Safe With Me
by Daemon Neko
Summary: A story I started quite a while back.. Also know as the story that will not end! =^_^= Set before, during and after the events of the movie, Jareth takes special intrest in the life of a young girl. Not sure if I'll finish this.. Please R and R.
1. Beginings

Safe with me 

**Part 1**

"Beginnings" Far away, long ago 

Glowing dim as an ember.

Thing my heart used to know,

Things they yearn to remember...

                    Once upon a December from "Anastasia"

chapter 1

Celeste walked through the winter snow, her long, pale hair flying and surrounding her head like a misty cloud. She had managed to sneak away from the other girls at the orphanage, wanting some time away from the insults that the other girls threw at her just because she was different. Being the youngest and the smallest of them made her an easy target.  She giggled as a snowflake landed on her nose and stuck out her tongue to try to catch more.  A fluttering of wings behind her surprised her and she spun around quickly, slipping on the frozen ground and landing in the foot deep snow on her fanny. She looked up and saw a white owl peering at her from atop a rock. She scowled and stuck her tongue out at it.

  "That wasn't very nice Jer," She scolded the owl, and looked down at her dress and coat and picked at them, "You made me fall, now I'm all wet."

  She looked back up and where the owl once was, there was now a man. He was tall, lithe and very handsome. He looked as though he had stepped out of medieval times with a flowing white shirt, black vest and black leather pants and boots. Around his shoulders was a long flowing cape that looked as if it was made of raven feathers. He brushed a lock of his unruly mane of blonde hair from his mismatched eyes and grinned impishly at Celeste.

"I do apologize, Poppet," he said as he walked over to where she sat. He lifted her up into the air and the scowl on her face instantly disappeared at the joy of seeing her best and only friend in the world. He sat her down on the rock that he had perched upon before, and took off her wet coat. He then wrapped his own cloak around her. 

"So Poppet, are you ready for the birthday surprise I promised you?"

Celeste nodded, grinning from ear to ear as she wrapped his cloak tightly around her.

"Close your eyes, then, and say the words."

She giggled and did as he said, "I wish... I wish Jer would come and take me away, right now!"

Celeste felt a tingling sensation all over her body and suddenly felt like she was flying through the air, wind blowing her long hair about her face. Suddenly it stopped and she felt that she was being held in safe and loving arms. She opened her eyes and saw that Jer was now cradling her in his arms. She looked around and saw that they were at the entrance to the Goblin City that led to his castle. He set her down and took her tiny hands into his.

"Well Birthday girl, where shall we go first? The crystal waterfalls? The forests? The peach groves?"

She looked up at him and tilted her head, "Where's my birthday surprise?" 

Jer threw his head back and laughed, "Such an impatient little thing.."

He kneeled down so that he was eye level with her. "You'll get your surprised soon enough Poppet, but you have to learn how to be patient..." He suddenly grabbed her and began tickling her furiously, "...or I'll dunk you in the Bog of Eternal Stench!!!"

"Noooo!!!!!" she howled with laughter as she tried to escape him, but she was no match for him and he reduced her into a giggling fit. When he finally stopped she looked up at him. "Can we go to your castle, Jer? I wanna go see everyone."

Jer swept the child off her feet and cradled her in his arms.

 "Of course Poppet," he said as he carried her through the gates, " Your wish is my command..."

* * * * *

The castle was a flurry of activity as the goblins bustled around getting ready for their guest. Hoggle was barking out orders, wanting everything to be perfect so as not to bring on the wrath of Jareth.  But he was also doing it for the little girl as well. Celeste brought out the best in the Goblin King, which in Hoggle's opinion, was no easy feat.

"They're coming! They're coming!" screamed a small scruffy goblin that ran into the hall from the front gates. The rest of the goblins began to babble with excitement. Jareth strode into the hall with Celeste on his shoulders, her hands holding onto locks of his golden hair. He helped her down and as soon as her feet hit the floor she was surrounded by a goblins chittering and chattering for her attention. Hoggle pushed through the mass of goblins to Celeste and took her hand.

"Happy 6th Birthday, Miss Celeste," he said bowing a bit, trying to be formal, but the girl would have none of that as she hugged him tightly.

"Hilo Hoggle!" she smiled, "I've got something for you!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a silver charm. It was in the shape of a reclining cat, with brilliant green gems for eyes. She placed it in Hoggle's hand and smiled again. "I traded 2 weeks worth of dessert for it."

 "Miss Celeste it's... It's beautiful," he stammered, then gasped for air as Celeste hugged him again.

"Oh Hoggle I'm so glad you like it!" she said, "I hoped that you would."

Hoggle hugged the girl back, not daring to look up at Jareth, who was towering over them. Hoggle could feel his cold stare boring into the back of his head. Hoggle was the first one to admit that he was a coward, especially where Jareth was involved.. As soon as Hoggle stepped away Celeste was swept into Jareth's arms.

"Enough of that rot," he said as he carried her to his throne. He sat her down and stepped into the middle of the great hall. The goblins parted from his path like the Red Sea. He scratched his chin as if in thought as he paced for a bit then came back to the throne where Celeste waited expectantly. He kneeled down and tapped her on the nose.

"You remind me of the babe..," he said with an impish grin, his mismatched eyes sparkling.

"What babe?" Celeste asked with a puzzled look.

"The babe with the power.." he replied nonchalantly.

"What power?" she asked sensing that this was part of a game

"The power of Voodoo" 

"Who do?" 

"You do.." he replied, placing his finger on the tip of her nose. 

"Do what?!?!!?" she asked in mock exasperation.

"Remind me of the babe.." he replied grinning from ear to ear as he lifted her off the throne and swung her around in circles. She threw her head and laughed and the goblins joined in on the festivities and began to sing and dance. 

* * * *

After the party had died down a bit, Jer took Celeste aside, and whispered in 

her ear.

"Poppet, it's time for the birthday surprise that I promised you."

He took her hand and led her up some stairs, past the Escher room, up a winding staircase. The came to a large doorway with a huge carved stone door. With a wave of his hand the doors opened. Jer lead Celeste into a large room with mirrors on all the walls. Bits of colored glass and mirror hung from ribbons off the ceiling. 

"Oh.." she gasped in wonder, "Jer It's so pretty!"

"That's not the best part," he said as he got on one knee beside her, "This is a wishing room. Just for you. Imagine a place, anyplace, and it will appear before you"

"Really?" she whispered.

"Yes.  Now close you eyes, and tell about the place you want to make.."

Celeste closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "How about... a ball! Like the 

ones in the stories you tell me? A mask.. mascer..."

"Masquerade ball?" he asked.

"Yes! That's it! A Masquerade ball, " she said, as a glowing, crystal ball appeared before her face. Inside of it was a tiny ballroom.

"With lots of dancers, with pretty dresses and suits and masks," and as she said this, the tiny ballroom was filled with elegant dancers. Jer smiled.

"Now Poppet, Open your eyes."

She did and she saw the tiny ballroom that her mind had created. She gasped and reached out to touch it but pulled her hand away fearing it would break. 

"It's alright," he assured her, "Would you like to go in?" 

Celeste looked down at her drab dress uniform, then up at the beautiful dancers. 

"I'm not pretty enough to go," she said sadly.

"Don't you dare say that," said Jer crossly. Celeste looked up at him, started by his tone of voice.

Jer shook his head then took her hand in his. "I'm sorry Poppet, but I hate it when you say such things about your self. You are the dearest thing to me. You know I would never lie to you, right?"

"Right, " she replied softly.

"Well then when I saw that you are the most beautiful girl, more beautiful than any of those dancers, I mean it with all my heart. Do you believe me?"

She smiled softly. "Yes I do."

"Well then, Shall we dance?" he offered his hand to her and she took it. The crystal bubble grew until it was larger than the both of them were. And they stepped through the crystal.

When they had made it to the other side she saw that her dress had been changed into a silver gown and her hair had been drawn up and pinned with flowers and that Jer was wearing a regal suit of black. He took her hand and they began to dance. She felt as if she was floating on air, she was so happy.  Finally the music died down and Jer placed something in her hand. It was another crystal bubble, but with a dancer in a beautiful black and red ball gown. There was a little gold button at the bottom and when she pressed it began to play a tune and the figure in the bubble turned as if she was dancing.

"Jer! It's our Lullaby!" she cried.

"Yes, I told you I have a very special present for you" he smiled.

All of a sudden she heard a far off voice, calling her name.. "Celeste? Celeste! 

Where in God sakes have you run off to now?!"

Jer look at her sadly. "Sorry Poppet but its time to go.."

"But I just got here! I don't want to leave!"

"I know dear one. But you know I can't keep you. He kissed her softly on the cheek, and then she was suddenly back in the snowy field, alone again.

"Celeste!"

She turned around and saw one of the nuns that ran the orphanage. 

"Child where have you been!" she scolded, "You'll catch your death of cold!"

She herded Celeste back towards the orphanage, "You've been off daydreaming again, I'll wager."

Celeste wasn't listening as she hummed to herself with her hand in her pocket playing with the crystal bubble that Jer had given her.... 

chapter 2

Jareth returned to the great hall in a foul mood. The few unfortunate goblins that were slow to move from his path were kicked or trodden upon. The rest of the goblins made themselves scarce. He stalked to his throne and flung himself upon it, his legs swinging over the armrest.

"Damn. Damn! DAMN!" he snarled, half to himself, "There should have been more time! I promised her!"

"Having problems, cousin?" came a dark silky voice.

Jareth turned his head towards the voice. Leaning against one of the columns in the hall was a tall, lanky young man. He was dressed in black leather and had long dark brown hair held in a braid that trailed down his back. His eyes were an orangey amber color and his face resembled Jareth's right down to the arrogant smirk. Jareth raised his eyebrow at the youth;  "Oh it's you."

The young man's smirk increased, "Really cousin, is that a way to greet family?" 

He circled the throne like some sort of predatory creature. "Still mopping around because of that child?"

"Ian, I am not in the mood, " Jareth seethed.

"No, you never are," Ian replied thoughtfully. "Jareth,  Jareth,  Jareth... You know you really should give it up. Why bring you hopes up? He'll never let you have her."

Jareth stood up and brought his face just inches away from his cousin's "So I'm supposed to leave her?" he snarled, "Abandon her like he did?" he turned away and began to pace furiously.

"Come now, Jareth," Ian replied, "It can't be helped that he's gone under and can't be reached. Anyways you were only to keep an eye on her, not to become attached to her. He won't be happy to find that you've integrated yourself into her life as much as you have." Ian tilted his head thoughtfully. "Of course, the poor thing must feel so alone with no friends and all the other girls teasing her. She's probably crying herself to sleep, right now. Such a pity."

A strange look briefly passed over Jareth's face. "I have to go to her," he muttered to himself. He began to stalk out of the hall when he remembered his "guest". 

"Ian, you know your way out. I have business to attend to." Jareth turned a corner and Ian could hear the fluttering of owl's wings.

Ian smiled to himself. Everything was falling into place. Soon Jareth would dig himself into a deep enough hole that he wouldn't be able to get himself out. And then Jareth's kingdom would be his.

"Yes," he said to himself, as he walked over to an open window, "This is turning out quite nicely.." He stepped out of the window and turned into a brown hawk and flew off.

* * * *

Celeste closed her eyes and pretended she was sleeping when she heard the nun stop by her door, during her nightly rounds. She heard the door creak open a bit and a shaft of light fell across her face. She stayed still, breathing deeply to keep up the illusion that she was asleep.

The door closed and Celeste could hear the nun walk away. As soon as she thought it was safe she sat up in bed and pulled her coat out from under her bed. She reached into one of the pockets and pulled out the crystal bubble that Jer and given her. She gazed at it in wonder, not able to get over how beautiful it was. She looked closely at the figure inside. The dancer had white hair just like she did. Jer had always told her that she had pretty hair, but the other girl's teased her and called her "Spooky" or "ghost girl" because of it. She looked even closer at the dancer's face. It looked very familiar. May be the dancer was her mommy? Jer had told her that he had met her mommy before she died. He told her that she was a beautiful dancer. Celeste sighed, wishing she was back in Jer's kingdom. She hated it here. 

Everyone teased her or looked at her strange. She was sorely aware by the others that she wasn't wanted. At least in Jer's castle, in the Labyrinth, she was loved. No one made fun of her or called her names. Why couldn't she live with Jer forever? Did he not want her too? She closed her eyes trying very hard not to cry, but tears escaped as she hugged the crystal close to her. 

"What's wrong Poppet?"

Celeste jumped as her eyes flew open. She was staring straight into Jer's mismatched eyes, which were full of concern. He brushed tears off her check.

"Oh Jer, I hate it here!" she cried, "Why can't you take me with you?"

Jer sighed and stood up, "It's not that simple Celeste. I made a promise to watch over you, but part of that promise was that I couldn't take you away from the human world. And although I would love to take you with me, I can't break the promise. Do you understand?"

Celeste nodded, but Jer could tell by the look on her face that this was not the end of it. She was a sweet angelic child but she could as stubborn as a mule if she chose to be.

            He sat down next to her on the bed and tucked her in. "Now, young lady, it's about time you got some sleep. You've had a very long day."

"But I'm not sleepy," she pouted as she yawned, "Tell me a story."

"Fine then..." He scratched his chin in thought, " Once upon a time.. There was a beautiful young woman. And she lived in a land far, far away. She was a very kind girl, but all the people in her town envied her for her pure heart and beauty, so the treated her very badly. But what they didn't know was that she was a very special girl."

"A princess?" asked Celeste as she snuggled against him.

"Yes a princess, with very special powers. But she didn't know that. Well one day someone fell in love with her, a King.."

"Like you" giggled Celeste.

"Yes Poppet, like me," he smiled, "Well a King fell in love with her and he took her to his castle where she was loved and cared for and no one treated her badly ever before.."

"..And they lived happily ever after?" she murmured sleepily.

"Yes Poppet," he whispered, "of course they did"

"Jer, sing to me," Celeste asked softly as she was beginning to slip into slumber.

Jer smiled and reached for the bubble clutched in her hand. He pressed the button on it and soft music filled the room. Jer began to sing as Celeste tried unsuccessfully to keep her eyes open.

"On the wind, 'Cross the sea,

 Hear this song and remember,

 Soon you'll be home with me,

 Once Upon a December..."

Celeste was fast asleep even before he has finished. He kissed her forehead, and tucked her in again. 

"I am truly sorry Poppet," he whispered. He took one last look his eyes full of pain. Then he turned to the window and flew off into the night.

  


chapter 3

Several years had passed, as Celeste was moved from one foster home to another. The foster parents kept bringing her back, saying that they had problems with her. There were several incidents where they heard voices coming from her room, but when checked on, she was alone. The foster parents claimed that they couldn't deal with a "special" child like her. Finally the orphanage had finally found someone who was willing to take Celeste off their hands. She was nearly 13 now, and the older she got the harder she was to place, so when a couple showed interest in adopting her, the nuns leapt for it. Celeste wasn't too thrilled about it, but she learned long ago not to argue with the nuns. They could be scary when you argued with them. Her life with her new "family", the Coleman's, was pretty uneventful. Mrs. Coleman was a very quite, passive woman who wringed her hands a lot and Mr. Coleman was large and imposing, with dark deeply set eyes. He would look at Celeste strangely when he thought she wasn't looking. He was away a lot and usually came back home very late at night, making a lot of noise that woke Celeste up. She usually kept her door locked at night, and this made her feel somewhat safe, although she didn't know why. A week after Celeste moved in Mrs. Coleman insisted that she call her "mom".

"My mom is dead" Celeste replied in a flat tone. She felt instantly sorry for saying it, as soon as she saw the stricken look on Mrs. Coleman's face.

"I'm sorry," Celeste told her taking her hand, "I just don't feel real comfortable calling you mom right now.. But I'm sure after time, I will be able to," she tried to smile at the woman not quite making it. Mrs. Coleman smiled back at her sadly, patted the girl's hand and went back to the kitchen.

::Real nice Celeste,::  she thought to herself, ::You didn't have to trample on the woman's feelings! She was trying to be nice to you,:: she sighed and headed to her room.  After that little incident, Celeste was left mostly to herself.  

She was desperately lonely, and Jer didn't come as often as he did before. 

Mostly he seemed to show up, right at the moment when she was just about to enter the oblivion of sleep. She could feel his fingers stroking her hair and humming their lullaby. She wanted to jump up and hug him and tell him how much she missed him. But sleep would claim her and when she would wake up there would be no trace of his visit except the sensation of him kissing her brow. 

            One night as Celeste lay wide-awake in bed; she heard crashing from the living room. She knew immediately that it was Mr. Coleman. He usually came in making enough racket to wake the dead. All of a sudden a thought crossed Celeste's mind. Had she locked the door tonight? It was too late to get up to check, as she heard his stumbling footsteps come down the hallway.  She pulled her blanket over her head thinking,  ::Maybe if I pretend that I'm asleep he'll go away..:: She heard him stop at her doorway. ::Please God let the door be locked.. Please God please..::

He fumbled with the knob, and Celeste felt her blood run cold as she heard the door creak open. She could smell the reek of alcohol and sweat as he stumbled towards her, breathing heavily. He plopped onto the edge of her bed and began muttering something that she couldn't understand, then pulled the covers off of the bed away from her. Celeste tried to squirm away but he grabbed her wrists with one large hand and her throat with the other.

"Little tease," he slurred, "You know what your daddy wants.."

Fear nearly paralyzed Celeste, but some instinct deep inside her knew that she had to get away from him, before he did something horrible to her. She reared back her leg and kicked him as hard as she could in the crotch.  He cursed in pain and let her go. He then swung his fist into her face knocking her onto the floor with the force of the blow. She could taste blood in her mouth, pouring down her face.

"Bitch!" he hissed as he lunged for her. She scrambled out of the room, evading his grasp. She stumbled down the stairs desperately looking for a place to hide. Her eyes caught some heavy drapes that were behind the couch.  She hid behind the drapes curling up, holding her knees tightly up to her chest.  

::please don't let him find me.. oh god please!!::

She could hear him stumbling down the stairs cursing violently. "Come out you little bitch!!"       

::oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god::

He threw a lamp against the wall. "I said come out you little tease!" His voice dropped down to a low and sinister tone, "Your daddy wants to play.."

::oh God oh God PLEASE don't let him find me::

He stumbled over to the couch and knocked it over.

::GOD PLEASE!!::

He stood breathing raggedly in front of the heavy drapes, and then he began to softly chuckle.

::HELP ME!!::

He yanked open the drapes and saw her cowering there. He began to undo his pants. 

Celeste began to scream.

* * * *

            Jareth smiled as he studied his new addition to his Goblin horde. He had been wished here by his older brother Scott, who only went through the Labyrinth, not because he cared about his younger sibling, but because he knew his parents would kill him if he didn't come back with his little brother. Of course Jareth had no intention of letting him get his brother back. He played with the boy for a bit, in the way that cats play with mice, but he soon lost interest. The boy was still wandering aimlessly in the outskirts of the maze when the 13th hour struck. Jareth transported the boy to his throne room, where Scott begged and pleaded to be sent back home. Jareth could have his little brother for all he cared.

            "Oh I'll send you home alright," Jareth smirked, "But not without a parting gift.." Scott's little brother sat at the foot of Jareth's throne, looking at his older brother with pure hatred and contempt. Jareth took the child's hand and pricked his finger with a needle. He did it so quickly that the child didn't have time to register the pain. As a drop of blood fell to the floor, Jareth laughed.

            Scott found himself back home in his little brother's room. "I'm free," he chuckled to himself, "I'm fre....." he looked down and saw his hands were covered with blood. He looked around the room and saw that blood was splattered all over the room. Even his brother's bed was soaked. He began to go into hysterics just as his parents walked in.

            According to the police report, the blood that was on the boy and generally splattered all over the room belonged to his little brother. They suspected that Scott had just snapped and murdered his brother and disposed of the body. Then he came up with the cockamamie story about a "Goblin King" taking him away.

            Jareth watched his new goblin with growing amusement. He would be much happier here than in the mundane world. Jareth had made sure to take away all his memories of his human life, so as far as he was concerned he had always been a goblin for as long as he could remember. As for his older sibling, well, Jareth had looked into the boy's soul and saw what he really wished and what Scott wanted was his little brother dead. So, Jareth had made it so. Of course he had made it seem like that it was caused by his own hands, but then, the boy should have been more specific...

            "Another addition to your collection, Jareth?" Jareth turned to see Ian looking critically at the new Goblin. "Kind of scrawny isn't he?"

            Jareth shrugged, "Maybe, but I did rather have fun with his brother, though," he replied with a sly grin.

            Ian returned the grin, "Yes, I saw. Now that's the Jareth we all know and loathe. It's nice to see you're over and stopped seeing that girl"

            Jareth made no comment, and continued to watch his new acquisition intently.

"You have stopped seeing her, right?" Ian queried.

"Well..... Not exactly.."

Ian shook his head.

"Really Jareth," he sighed, "It's not such a good idea to get him upset..."

Jareth turned a cold stare towards Ian

"Cousin," he said in a soft dangerous tone, "Are you implying that I'm afraid of 

him?"

"N...no!" Ian stammered, withering under Jareth's stare, "I was just saying that getting him upset just wouldn't help matters. Anyways forget about the girl. 

She's making you soft.."

Jareth raised his eyebrow, "Not soft enough to stop me from dumping you head first into the Bog of Eternal Stench."

Ian gulped, "Ha-ha, Very funny."

Jareth grinned, "Yes, I thought so.."

::JER! HELPME PLEASE!!!!::

Jareth was knocked to his knees by the force of the telepathic scream for help.

"Gods," he whispered in a horrified tone, when he realized it was Celeste.

Jareth stood up and instantly transported himself to where Celeste was. Ian was yet again left alone in the throne room. He grinned to himself remembering the look of distress on Jareth's face. "Looks like she's got my little surprise," he chuckled.

* * * *

            The man loomed over her, his hands tearing at her nightshirt, pulling her shorts down. Celeste struggled and whimpered as she tried futily to escape. She sent a silent plea to someone, anyone to take her away, to make him go away and leave her alone.

            All of a sudden her prayers were answered. The man was gone and she was alone, in a black void. She pulled her shorts back up and hugged what was left of her tattered nightshirt close to her, shivering. Where was she?

chapter 4

"Where is she?!"

            Mr. Coleman turned, his pants around his ankles. Before him, radiating with fury was Jareth. His eyes seethed and were afire with pure and total hate, his black cape writhed and coiled as if it were a living thing.

            Mr. Coleman dropped to his knees, sobering up immediately by the sight, 

"God.."

 "Your God can't help you now," Jareth snarled. He pulled forth one of his crystals  and with a flick of his hand it became a ball of flame. He hurled it at Mr. Coleman's groin. The man screeched in pain as he fell over to the floor holding his scorched crotch.

            "That's only a fraction of the pain I'll put you through if you don't tell me where she is," Jareth hissed.

"S.. She's gone," the man whimpered, "she .. just disappeared.."

That stopped Jareth in his tracked. He knew the scum wasn't lying, but she couldn't of just disappeared into thin are unless...

            He turned back to the sniveling wreck on the floor.

"Wh.. Who are you?" Mr. Coleman asked.

Jareth grinned cruelly, "Your worst nightmare"

* * * *

            Mrs. Coleman sat on her bed, listening to the sound of her husband screaming. It had seemed like hours, but a look at the clock on her nightstand confirmed that it had only 10 minutes. Suddenly the screams cut short. She waited 2, 3, 4 minutes; there was only silence. A hand rested on her shoulder.

"I thought you were going to kill him quickly," she said.

"You did not specify how long or how short his life would expire, my dear," Ian replied in a silky tone, "Oh, and thank you again for making sure your now dearly departed husband got a key to the girl's room."

            The woman looked up at him, "Is she.. is she alright?"

Ian shrugged,  "What does it matter? It's a little too late to worry about her now. If you were so concerned you wouldn't have given him the key now would you?"

"But I didn't know it would go this far.." she whispered, half to herself.

"Didn't you? You knew what he was capable of, especially when the temptation was presented to him. Why else would I have you adopt her?"

            "God, what have I done?" she cried.

"You have earned your freedom from you horrid husband. Exactly as you wished. No great loss." Ian replied with a grin. 

He went to the window and opened it, then turned to the woman and bowed deeply, 

"Well, Madame, I must bid you adieu" He took his hawk form and flew off into the night.

The woman began to sob bitterly, until something on her husband's nightstand caught her eye. There was a brand new packet of packet of razor blades sitting on the stand. She opened the package and took one between her forefinger and thumb, and looked at it for a long time. With a quick movement of her hand she swiped the blade across her throat, then across each wrist. It took an hour before she sunk into the deep oblivion of death. As Ian would say, "No great loss...".

chapter 5

            Celeste wandered aimlessly in the darkness. She didn't know if she was making any progress in getting out of this place. She should have been afraid, but for some reason she felt strangely at peace. There was something both comforting and familiar about this darkness. "Hello?" she called out, "Is anyone there?" She was only answered by silence. 

Finally, tired of walking and getting nowhere, she sat down. 

_^celeste ^_  a medley of voices whispered in her ear.

"Who's there?" she cried, standing up looking around, "Where are you?"

The darkness around her pulsed and swirled as if it were alive.

_^we are here we are everywhere.^_

"Who.. What are you?," she asked timidly. The darkness around her began to take form and mass, swirling around her, brushing up against her. The sensation felt as if animals like cats or dogs nudging against her, begging for attention.

_^we are yours we belong to you we are your legacy lead us^_

Celeste looked at the writhing darkness with confusion. "What are you talking about? I don't understand?"

_^you will^_ the voices replied. Then the mass began to dissipate as the whispering voices faded away.

"Wait!" Celeste pleaded, "Don't go! Don't leave me here alone!"

But it was to late; the voices had gone leaving her alone again in the black void.

Suddenly she felt a hand upon her shoulder. She began to scream hysterically, pulling away from the offending hand.

"Poppet it's alright. Calm yourself, you're safe now:" Jareth said in a soothing voice.

"Jer?" Celeste looked up to her old friend standing there regarding her with eyes full of concern. All of sudden flashes of what had happened to her before, what the man had almost done to her... She collapsed shaking, and sobbing uncontrollably. Jer scooped her up into his arms, holding her tightly.

"Hush, hush," he whispered softly, "I'm here now.."

"Oh Jer.." she sobbed, "He.. He tried to..." she broke off and began sobbing harder.

"It's all right Poppet, it's all right..." he tried soothing her. Her tears began to taper off to sniffles.

"No," she whispered, "It's never going to be alright again.."

"Of course it will be," Jareth replied, "He will never bother you again. I'll make sure of that. As soon as I tend your wound and you get some rest, I'll take you back-"

"Take me back?!?!" Celeste asked in a hysterical tone. She pulled away from him and looked at him with eyes full of horror. "How can you even think of sending me back?! I can't, not after what happened.."

"Celeste," Jareth pleaded, "You know I can't let you stay here.."

"Why Jareth?" Celeste said in a piercing tone. "Because of some promise made to someone I don't even know? Why can't I have a say in this? It's my life!" Her eyes were full of anger and pain.

"Please Celeste, don't look at me that way. It's cruel.."

"Cruel? I'm being cruel?" She laughed bitterly. "Well I had a good teacher." She turned away, not wanting him to she the tears that were beginning to spill from her eyes.

Her statement stung like needles against his heart. It also made him come to a decision. He placed his hand upon her shoulders and turned her around so that she faced him. Tears poured down her face but she stared at him defiantly. He passed his hand over her eyes and she fell into unconsciousness. He caught her before she hit the floor.

Ian stepped out of the blackness and stood next to Jareth, He looked down at the unconscious girl.

"What are you going to do with her?" he asked.

"I'm taking her to see her father," Jareth replied.

chapter 6

On the borders of the Underground, at the edge of the forests, there is a wall of blackness that marks the borders of the Shadowlands. Denizens of the Underground did not dare to venture into the darkness because anyone that entered the darkness never returned.  This was the land that was ruled by Celeste's father, the Shadow King.   Jareth stood, waiting in the Shadow king's throne room, cradling the sleeping child in his arms.  Shadow beasts lurked and coiled around them, constantly shifting into different shapes. 

"Proteus!" Jareth shouted, "Show yourself! We have business to speak of."

Shadows began to gather in front of the massive throne. They began to take shape until they formed the figure of a dark lithe man, who sat pensively upon the throne.

"You don't have to yell Jareth," the Shadow King replied in a voice that was reminiscent of autumn leaves blowing in the wind. "In my realm I hear and see everything.."

"Well for all your powers, you don't seem to be very aware of the pain you've been putting your daughter through," Jareth said vehemently.

The Shadow King narrowed his black eyes but did not say anything.

"I can't send her back to the human world," Jareth said, "It would destroy her. 

Let me take her with me. I would protect her and make sure she would never be hurt again."

"Just like you did tonight?" asked the Shadow King.

Jareth seethed, "I didn't see you do anything about it.."

"No, because that was your job, " replied the dark man. He stood up and looked down at the Goblin King, "Jareth, do you realize the amount of danger you have put her in by just bringing her here?"

"Yes, but..." Jareth began.

"But nothing," the Shadow King interrupted. "You know my enemies would like nothing more than to get their hands on her. She is in more danger now, than she could be, in the human world, if you had only watched her and not participated in her life."

"But I couldn't leave her alone," Jareth protested.

"Jareth," the dark man said in firm tone, "You will take her back, immediately."

Jareth said nothing as he looked down at the girl, wondering how he was going to explain this to her.

"And," the Shadow King continued, "you will remove any memories that she has of you and of being in you realm."

"What?!?" Jareth cried in outrage. "I can't do that!"

"You can and you will. Do you actually think she would go back willingly if she remembered all of this?"

Jareth cast his eyes downwards, recalling her words from earlier, "No.. She wouldn't.."

"Then you know what to do." The Shadow King stepped back to his throne, his shape becoming more transparent, as he took him natural form. Jareth sat amid the shadows as he held the girl tightly to him. Finally he stood up and transported himself back to his realm. 

* * * *

In the mirrored room, Celeste's wish room; the colored glass sparkled gaily reflecting the light around them. Jareth brushed her long hair from her forehead, and kissed her. A single tear drop on to her face and trailed own her cheek. 

"I am so sorry Poppet," he whispered, "It's for the best, really"

Maybe if he said that often enough he would begin to believe it.

He heard the door creak open behind him. He turned around expecting to see Ian gloating behind him, but instead he saw Hoggle peeking in.

"What have you done with the little miss?" cried the dwarf as he rushed in, "If ye hurt her, I'll..."

"You'll what, Hogwart?" Jareth Snarled at him. He gently placed the girl on the floor and turned to the Dwarf. He was surprised that the dwarf wasn't trembling and whimpering in fear before him. He was actually trying to be brave, no doubt for the girl's sake. Any other time, Jareth would have found this amusing, but now it only enraged him. He struck out as quickly as a viper and Hoggle found himself several feet off the floor with Jareth's hands wrapped around his neck. 

For once Hoggle felt absolute and total fear for his life. He knew that Jareth would kill him and it would not be either a quick or pleasant death.

"Listen, Hoggle," Jareth hissed. Hoggle became even more afraid because for once

Jareth had gotten his name right. "Any other time I would find you little display of bravado amusing but I currently am NOT in the mood." Suddenly a look flashed across Jareth's eyes, as if he had just thought of something truly unpleasant to do to Hoggle. He yanked the Cat Charm off from Hoggle's jewel collection.

"Hey!" Hoggle squeaked around Jareth's clench, "That's my rightful property! She gave it to me!"

"Don't worry Hoggbrain," Jareth sneered, "You won't miss it. You won't even remember it."

Jareth placed his hand over the struggling dwarf's forehead. He seemed to pull a bubble from Hoggle's forehead, as he drew forth his all memories of Celeste. 

Suddenly Hoggle found himself at the entrance to the labyrinth, with holding his spray can. He was confused for a second; not knowing what he was doing before. 

He shrugged his shoulders and went back to spraying fairies.

"45.... 46.... 47..... 48"

* * * *

Jareth turned back to the sleeping girl. He gathered her back into his arms, then placed his hand upon her brow. He began to pull each of her memories of him and sent them floating to the high ceiling of the room. The crystal bubbles that held the memories merged into the pieces of colored glass, so that images of times long past were reflected in them.  He finally reached her last memory of him. Her most painful one, where he, in her eyes, had betrayed her. This one he held for a moment, before he crushed it in his hand reducing it to glittery dust. He took the charm he had taken from Hoggle and placed an enchantment upon it. It disappeared. He then kissed Celeste one last time. 

"Goodbye Poppet.."

* * * *

Celeste found herself standing on an old dirt road dressed in a coat that was way to big for her holding a suitcase. She looked around with a puzzled look upon her face. Where was she? How did she get here? The last thing she could remember was that she was in her foster family's home and her foster father had tried to .... Her mind shut down at this, not wanting to let this memory resurface. She began shaking, her knees turning to water. 

"Oh god..." she whispered. She knew she couldn't go back. She had to get far away. Suddenly there was a crashing noise behind her. She turned as a scream nearly rose from her throat.

The sound had come from the bushes behind her, but the bushes seemed to be much too small to hide anything. She peered down and found that something was looking back at her. She was staring into a pair of large bluish green crossed eyes. She laughed as she saw that the eyes belonged to the most beautiful and silliest looking creature that she had ever seen. It was a small black and white tuxedo kitten. It had long silky fur and ears that seemed too large for it's little head. Its white muzzle reminded her of a bunny rabbit's right down to the pink little nose. It's paws were to big for it and it's fluffy tail was much to long for it's body.

"Meep!"

Celeste began to giggle again. She didn't know cats squeaked. The little creature crawled up to her and sat on its haunches, looking up at her with its large eyes.

"Meep!" it squeaked again. Celeste smiled, glad for the distraction, and picked it up. It licked her on the nose, then squeaked again. 

"C'mon kitten," she smiled, "Let's hit the road." 

chapter 6

Jareth stood at the edge of the Bog of Eternal Stench. He had cast a protective spell around himself, so the stench would not affect him. In his had he held a crystal orb, with what looked like a tiny, writhing figure inside. He let the crystal float out of his hand and it began to grow until the creature inside was almost human size. 

Jareth smiled at his handiwork.  The being inside the crystal prison was hardly recognizable as human anymore. Its withered limbs were twisted and atrophied, its hands had fused into malformed flippers, it's legs ended into gnarled tentacles. It's large black eyes rolled around in their sockets as its maw of a mouth opened up in a silent scream. Ichor dripped from it's translucent skin forming a puddle before Jareth's feet. The Goblin King smiled at the creature's obvious pain. "At least I can keep one promise that I made to her," Jareth mumbled to himself.

He leaned forward until his face was inches away from the monstrosity.

"You never should of touched her," he hissed to the creature, "I 'm sure you wished that I had killed you. But death is too good for the likes of you."

With a wave of his hand he dismissed the crystal and it hovered over the center of the bog and disappeared, leaving the creature suspended in midair for about a second before it plummeted into the murky depths of the putrid liquid. Jareth began to cast an intricate spell of binding and created a hazardous looking bridge right over where the creature had fallen in. When the spell was finished, Jareth had successfully binded the bridge to the beast. As long as no one crossed the bridge it would stand holding the creature there. And considering where the bridge was and the state it was in, it would be standing for a long time. But still, it was better to be safe than sorry. He needed someone to guard the bridge. Someone who would be persistent enough to dissuade anyone from even considering about crossing it, but stupid enough to guard a decrepit bridge in the middle of the Bog of eternal Stench. Suddenly the perfect individual came to mind. Jareth smiled to himself and began casting a summoning spell. 

* * * *

Jareth waited, leaning against a large tree, which stood next to the rickety bridge, when he heard something crashing through the brush. Sir Didymus arrived sitting atop his skittish steed, Ambrosias. He stopped and took a deep breath, which could be fatal in the bog of eternal stench.

"Ahhh," Didymus said, "A breath of fresh air, can do wonder for the constitution, right Ambrosias?" 

The dog just shuddered afraid that something would jump out and attack them. Jareth smiled. It looked as if the spell he had tagged along with the summoning had worked. Didymus and his steed could now safely breath the air around them, with no ill effect.

"Sir Knight," he called. Startled by the voice. Didymus jumped off his steed, who ran off to hide under a bush, and drew his rapier, ready to attack. When he saw who it was, he bows deeply, "Your majesty, I am at your service."

"Sir Didymus," Jareth said, "I have need of your quick sword and bravery."

The small knight puffed up with pride at the compliment. "What would you have me do, sire?"

 "I need a brave knight to guard this bridge. Someone who would swear his life 

to make sure no one will cross."

Didymus looked around Jareth inspecting the bridge, and gave Jareth a puzzled look. "Sire, you want me to guard this? I should think that you would want to use knight of my talents for something more... dangerous."

"Well if you think your not up to the task, I can always find another," Jareth paused, "It is a job fraught with danger, for a brave and courageous knight.. But it your really not up to it.." at this Jareth began to turn away. 

"Wait!" cried Didymus, "I am all those things! I would be honored to guard this bridge."

Jareth smiled, "Then you swear upon you life not to let anyone pass."

" I swear upon my life and honor that none shall pass without my permission," replied the diminutive knight. 

"Fine the Job is yours..." Jareth disappeared to do one last thing to lay this business to rest, as Didymus scoured the underbrush for his steed.

* * * *

Jareth stood before the room where he had last been with Celeste. He placed his hand on the door, but couldn't bring himself to enter. No one is ever going to enter this room, he promised himself. He plucked his amulet from his chest and held it against the stone door. It seemed to sink into the door, binding it closed. When he pulled it away it left an impression in the door. The only way anyone would be able to get it open was to use the amulet. He hung it back around his neck., and left the room, not intending to come back..


	2. Awakenings

**Part 2**

**    Awakenings**

I'd give up forever to touch you,

Cause I know that you'd feel me somehow

You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be

And I don't wanna go home right now...

I don't want the world to see me

Cause I don't think that they'd understand

When everything's made to be broken

I just want you to know who I am...

                                     Iris by the Goo-Goo Dolls

chapter 7 

_ Once upon a time there was a young girl named Sarah. She always got into fights with her stepmother, and thought life was thoroughly unfair. One night, after getting into yet another fight with her stepmother and having to baby-sit her bawling, baby brother, she just couldn't take it anymore. She wished that the Goblin king would take her little brother away. To her surprise she found that the Goblin king was real, and he took her little brother away and gave her a choice. Let him keep her brother and have her fondest wishes come true, or solve his Labyrinth in 13 hours and should she fail, Jareth would turn her little brother into a goblin.. Feeling guilty about sending her brother into such a fate, she chose to solve his Labyrinth.  Along the way she met Hoggle the Dwarf and Ludo, a large but friendly beast. They all managed to end up in the bog of eternal stench, desperately looking for a way out, Sarah managed to find a bridge. It looked unsteady but it was their best bet. All of a sudden a small knight by the name of Didymus leaped forth. "None shall pass without my permission!" he cried.  Sarah tried to reason with him but to no avail. Ludo tried to convince the diminutive creature with his brute strength, but Sir _

_Didymus was too quick. Finally, using her wits, Sarah asked him if they could have his permission to pass. This stopped the little knight short. He thought for a moment, then agreed to let them pass,. Sarah began to cross the bridge but it fell apart instantly. Fortunately with Ludo's talents with Speaking with Rocks, Sarah landed on a rising rock before falling into the putrid waters of the bog. The rest followed her in turn on the newly created pathway of stones. Sensing that they were heading for an adventure, Didymus joined them, forgetting about his post at the now decimated bridge. As soon as the party left, the waters of the bog began to churn and boil. Large bubbles spewed from the murky waters making a trail heading for the shore. Suddenly the bubbles stopped at the edge, and a long malformed tentacle reached out from the water, slime oozing off of its skin. A monstrous creature pulled itself out of the muck. The creature shook the slime from its eyes. It opened its mouth to utter one word, "Jarrrethhhhhhh..."_

**_Ten years later...._**

Celeste searched through the kitchen cabinets, cursing under her breath.. She could never find things when she really needed them. Ash squeaked loudly, as he tried to entangle himself around her legs.  Celeste looked down at the cat, which was trying to get her undivided attention. He had grown a lot since he found her wandering down that dirt road about eight years ago. Although he still retained some of his kittenish qualities, such as his large green eyes, over sized ears, and his large paws that he never seem to grow into, he had grown into a sleek and graceful looking creature. At a glance, he appeared to be a calm, cool creature, but then appearances are deceiving, as soon as he walked you could tell he was just a bundle of energy, always wanting attention and wanting to please. And he was also the most graceless creature she had ever seen. She couldn't keep track of how many times he had fallen off shelves, missed landing on counters or crashed into glass doors. But what he lacked in grace he made up in enthusiasm and brute force.  As Thorn saw that that his squeaking was not getting his mistresses attention, he decided to try another tactic. He began to crawl up her leg, clinging to her jeans.

"Ash!" she cried in an exasperated tone. She picked the cat up and cradled him in her arms. 

"I'm never going to find you any food if you keep annoying me, you little monster." She kissed the tip of his pink nose. "The sooner you eat the sooner I can go to work.." She set him down on the counter and managed to find a can of tuna and placed it in a bowl for him. As he voraciously gobbled down the fish, she opened a drawer and pulled out a metal box. She unlocked it and pulled out her sidearm. She slipped it into the gun holster that she wore, and pulled on her worn black leather jacket. She went to a mirror, and braided her long white hair so it would be out of the way, then she grabbed her badge and her keys, gave Ash a kiss on the head and took off. When she walked out of the building there was a red caddy waiting for her. She opened the passenger side door, and slammed it behind her.

"Hey!" the driver exclaimed, "Don't slam that door, girl! I just got this car, and I don't want you wearin out the doors like ya did to my last car."

Celeste looked over at her partner and smiled.  Harrison Knight was a black detective, about 20 years her senior. He was sort of a father figure to her, since she never had one, and he watched out for her.  

"Nag, nag, nag," said Celeste, "I'll be more careful next time... Mother." Harry punched her playfully on the shoulder. "What's on for tonight, Harry?"

"Well we're going uptown to see if we can root out our perp," replied Harry, "He was last seen living out of one of the abandoned warehouses in the slums on 6th and Grant." 

"Ah, another night in the naked city, huh?" she sighed. "I am definitely not looking forward to spending the night in fruitless search through the back alleys of our not so fair city."

"Well, girl, that's what the city pays us for."

They drove for a while, chatting and throwing friendly insults and jibes at each other. The perp that they were after was a suspect in a rash or serial murders going on in the city. His victims were always women, who were found beheaded and drained of all their blood. He also liked to leave them in unusual places, such as in a cooler in a convenience store, or sitting in one of the pews of a local church. Harry and Celeste couldn't find any witnesses and every lead they had was a dead end.  Finally one of his prospective victims managed to get away from him, and went straight to the police, giving them a detailed description of this guy and his M. O. His name was Ashton Fisk, a tall, wiry man, who liked to incorporate himself in his victims' lives. He used a drug to subdue them, and drained their blood. The coroner said that the blood was drained before he cut their heads off. They couldn't figure out why he took their heads, and assumed it was some sort of sick ritual on his part. Armed with the description of their man in hand, Harry and Celeste combed the town until they found out his usual hangouts. 

Tonight they were going to try to bring him in, even though it seemed he was eluding them at every turn. When they finally got there, they both stepped cautiously out of the car. In this part of town you couldn't be too careful, no telling what could crawl out of some dark alley. They both pulled out their pieces and Harry motioned to his partner to cover him. He walked around the edge of a large desolate looking warehouse. Celeste made to follow, but Harry shook his head.

"You stay her, girl," he said, "I'll go around back and try to flush him out. I need you to block his escape route."

Celeste shook her head. "Harry, It'll be to dangerous. The freak is probably armed to the teeth."

But Harry was firm, "Girl, I have been at this game a mite longer than you. Just wait here and cover me."

He went into the darkness, leaving his partner behind, cursing under her breath. She stood waiting for what seemed like an eternity but in reality was probably only five minutes. Then she heard a crashing noise coming from the darkness, then several gunshots, the sound of Harry screaming.

"Dammit!" she cursed as she ran into the darkness, her gun ready to fire. As she ran through the darkness, she stopped when she saw something that made her blood run cold. Ashton Fisk was standing holding Harry at least three feet off the ground, which was a pretty astounding feat, considering Harry outweighed him by about 100 pounds. She aimed her gun at the perp.

"Freeze!" she cried, aiming for Fisk's head. "Drop him right now, or I'll blow your brains out, right now!"

Fisk turned to look at her, and Celeste got a good look at his face. His mouth was smeared with blood, Harry's blood. He smiled at her and she could swear that she saw rows of sharp teeth sparking in the moonlight. He dropped Harry and ran into the darkness. Celeste Ran to her partner. Harry was unconscious and he had a nasty looking wound on his neck.

"Harry?" she whispered as she tried to shake him awake. Her partner slowly regained consciousness.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Harry nodded and winced from the effort. 

"Shee-it!" he snarled, "The bastard must have knocked me out cold!" Harry reached towards his neck and felt the blood. He looked at his hand. "Damn, did he bite me?!"

"Looks like it," replied Celeste. "You wait here while I go after him."

"Wait, we need to call for backup or something!" But it was too late; Celeste was already running after where Ashton had taken off. 

Celeste ran down the alleyway looking for some sign of where he had gone. She heard the sound of something being crashed into behind her. She swung around, her gun ready to fire. Instead of Finding Ashton grinning maniacally at her, there was a small girl. She couldn't have been more than 6. She wore some sort of uniform, like the ones you seen on kids that go to Catholic school and was holding what looked like a snow globe. Celeste got a closer look at the girl's face, and was struck by how familiar it was.

"Hey, kid," she said in a soft tone, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with your mom or dad?"

The child looked at her solemnly and brushed a lock of her blonde hair from her face. No, not blonde, but white hair? All of a sudden it struck Celeste that the kid looked a lot like her. 

She put her gun away and reached her hand towards the child. "Come here hun. I won't hurt you."

The child looked at Celeste's hand then ran down the alley.

"Damn," Celeste muttered. She took off after the girl. She could hear the patter of the little girl's shoes, then they stopped. Celeste came to the end of the alley and saw no sign on the girl. She was positive that the girl had come this way, and there was no was she could of passed her. She sighed and shook her head. There were sirens in the distance. She knew she had lost Ashton and the kid was long gone. She slowly headed back to her partner, wondering how she was going to explain this.

  


chapter 8

"What in God's name posses you to go after that maniac alone, without backup?!"

Celeste stood, with her head cast downwards, taking the full brunt of the Chief's anger.

"Sir, I couldn't let him go," she replied, "And there was this kid.."

"The kid that disappeared into thin air?" snapped Chief Monroe, "Yes, I read your report." He swung his attention to Harry, "And you.. What the hell are you thinking? You left you partner behind, and get yourself knocked out by someone who probably would have killed you, if your partner didn't have the initiative to follow you."

Harry had the common sense to look cowed by this statement. He had been working with Chief Monroe long enough to know how to react to his little "speeches".

About an hour later, after what he thought was a sufficient scolding, the Chief let them go. It was nearly 8 am and Celeste had the beginnings of a nasty headache. By the time Harry dropped her off, it had developed into a full-fledged migraine. As soon as she walked into her apartment she unplugged the receiver off her phone, so that the machine would pick up her calls, and made herself an ice pack. She downed about 4 Extra-Strength Tylenol, and collapsed on her couch, with the ice pack across her forehead. Ash crawled onto her chest, curled up and began purring. 

"Ash, I love you dearly, but my head hurts like hell and your purring sounds like a car engine." Ash tilted his head, then stopped purring. Celeste would have shown surprise that her cat had actually listened to her, but she had already fallen asleep. 

* * * *

_She stood alone in darkness. Shapes seemed to flicker at the edge at her peripheral vision. She looked down at herself and noticed that she was wearing some sort of ball gown. It was black with red trim, and made of some sort of soft velvety fabric. She could hear something; it was too soft for her to make it out. She strained to hear it. It was.. music. She began to walk towards it and it began to get louder. Then it was all around her. Suddenly she realized there was someone with her. She turned and saw a tall, lithe figure standing behind her. He wore and intricate mask, it looked like a dragon, covering all of his face, and it was the only thing she could see clearly. He reached his hand out towards her._

_"Would you care to dance?" he purred in a smooth silky voice. _

She reached out but not for his hand. Her fingers brushed against the mask. It felt warm and almost alive. She pulled of the mask to reveal...

Celeste bolted awake, knocking Ash off her chest. The cat looked up and her with concern and squeaked. She sat for a moment breathing hard. The dream had been so real and so familiar. She got up and went to the bathroom. She ran the tap and splashed cold water on her face and neck. Ash began squeaking loudly. Celeste turned off the sink and headed to her distressed sounding cat. 

He was pawing the glass door that lead out to the balcony. 

"What it is little one?" asked as she looked outside. She noticed that there was noise coming from outside, music. Celeste froze. It was the same music from her dream. She opened the door and searched for the source. She saw it was coming from something in the corner of the balcony. She took a closer look. It was the snow globe that the girl from last night had! She leaned closer. In side there was a figurine. A dancer. Wearing the same dress she had on in her dream. 

"Oh God.." she whispered softly. She reached out tentatively to pick it up. It 

fell through the bars that surrounded the balcony. Celeste tried to catch it but 

it was as if it disappeared into thin air. She didn't even hear it hit the 

street. She went back into her apartment, trembling. She sat on the floor next 

to the door, and Ash crawled into her lap. She hugged him close to her and didn't sleep again that night.

  


chapter 9

Celeste sat silent in Harry's car, staring vacantly out the window. She hadn't said a word since she had gotten into his car, which was worrying Harry. "Celeste," he asked, glancing over at her, when he had reached a stoplight, "What's wrong? Are you still upset about what happed with Fisk?"

Celeste stayed silent, and he thought that she hadn't heard a word that he had said. Then she turned to look at him.

"Harry, how can you tell if you're going crazy?" she asked. Harry made a face at her, "Now, look," he said, "If this is about me leavin' you behind to go after Fisk..."

"No," she interrupted, "I mean I think I'm going crazy."

Harry looked at he, puzzlement washing over his face. She just stared back, with an almost blank emotionless mask on her face. He also was surprised to notice the dark circles underneath her eyes. She looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. Suddenly a car began blaring its horn. Harry saw that the light had turned green so he began driving. They had both slipped back into silence.

"What do you mean you think you're going crazy?" Harry finally asked.

Celeste just shook her head. "Lots of stuff is going on. I'm seeing things and hearing things that aren't there." She turned to look at her partner. "Harry, Remember that night with Fisk? Did you notice anything.. Strange about him?" 

Harry shrugged. "He knocked me out from behind. But that was fuckin weird that he bit me. It's like the guy thinks he some sorta vampire or something."

Celeste stayed silent. Harry glanced over at her. "You don't seriously think the guy's a vampire do you?!"

"Harry, I saw something that night.. The guy was holding you up like you were a newborn.. And his teeth..." She shook her head. "I must be overworked or something. Forget I even said anything."

"Look, if you feel like you wanna get off the case, we can turn around and go to the Chief's office and tell him. I don't want you to push yourself to hard.."

"Dammit Harry, don't coddle me," she snapped, " I'm not some kid rookie anymore."

Harry said nothing and Celeste was sorry she yelled at him. He meant well. 

"I'm sorry Harry. We just need to catch this guy. I'll be alright, okay?"

Harry still didn't answer. "Okay Harry?"

He sighed, "Okay.. Whatever you say partner." 

* * * *

They wandered the back alleys of another abandoned building that Fisk was sighted at. Harry made it a point not to let Celeste out of his sight. As Celeste was checking a door by some dumpsters, she headed the sound of something crashing by some trashcans. She pulled out her gun, training it in the general direction. She crept silently towards the cans. There was nothing there. She lowered her gun and cursed silently for letting her imagination get to her again.

"Meep!"

Celeste nearly jumped out of her skin. She twirled around to find a familiar sight. Sitting in front of her was Ash. He looked up at her innocently then brought his paw up and began to groom himself.

"You evil little bastard," she said incredulously, "Where the hell did you come from and how the hell did you get out here?"

He just looked up at her, trying his best to look cute and innocent. 

Celeste shook her head and picked him up, tucking him into her leather jacket and zipping it up so that he wouldn't get out.

"Hey Harry!" she called out as she headed back to the corner, "You won't believe who I found wandering out here!" Harry didn't answer back. Celeste stopped. 

"Harry?" she called out again, as a feeling of dread came over her. A poem that 

she heard once in a fairytale played in her head. It was if a voice was whispering it in her ear trying to warn her::

_Be bold,_

_Be bold,_

_But not to bold..._

She walked slowly over to the corner, her gun was out again.

_Be bold,_

_Be bold, _

_But not to bold,_

_Or else your life's blood_

_Shall run cold.._

As she drew nearer she could make out a leg sprawled out on the floor. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could see that it was Harry. She ran over to him. He lay on the floor, his piece was out as if he tried to pull it at whatever got him. There was blood all over and he wasn't moving. She shook him as tears streamed down her face. "Harry, please wake up.." but he didn't move.

"Hello little girl," a voice hissed behind her. She turned her gun drawn, seething with anger. Even though she had never heard his voice before she knew who it was. He stood before her, a tall lanky figure, his long black hair hanging over his glowing red eyes. He smiled and she got another view of his shark-like grin. His face was splattered with blood, Harry's blood.

She didn't wait for an introduction. She emptied the clip of her gun right into his chest. He was thrown halfway across the alleyway by the force.

She stood up, her gun still held before her. She walked tentatively over to his body. He sat straight up. She watched in amazement as the holes in his chest sealed up. He smiled at her again as she fumbled to get more bullets in her gun. 

He moved quicker than a striking cobra and knocked the gun out of her hands. She scooted backwards until her back hit a wall. He towered over her, his hand placed flat against the wall on either side of her, blocking her in. He leered down at her. "Why is it you can see what I really look like, little one, while none of the other mundanes can?"

He lowered his head until his nose was just inches away from her and began sniffing, like he were some sort of animal. He pulled away with a surprised look on his face. He quickly regained his composure. "So you're Shadow kin.. I didn't think they existed anymore."

"What?" Celeste managed to say his statement confused her enough to almost make 

her forget her fear.

 "Ah so you don't know what you are little one," he chuckled nastily, "Such a pity you won't ever find out.." He bared his rows or sharp glistening teeth, and Celeste knew that he wasn't going to kill her right a way. He was going to torture her and enjoy it. Suddenly a flickering memory popped into her head.

:: The man loomed over her, his hands tearing at her nightshirt, pulling her shorts down. Celeste struggled and whimpered as she tried futily to escape. She sent a silent plea to someone, anyone to take her away, to make him go away and leave her alone.::

 She shook her head to make the frightening image leave her mind and then attempted to hit Fisk in the chest to knock him away. He grabbed her wrist and chuckled. Suddenly there was a low growling sound. It was coming from her jacket.  Fisk cocked his eyebrow and smiled. "Well, well, what do we have here?" 

He grabbed the zipper to her jacket and began to unzip it. A flash of black and white jumped out and attached itself to his head. Fisk screamed in pain as Celeste fell backwards. She reached her arms back expecting to catch herself on the brick wall, but instead fell right through it, landing on her back. She looked up to see pure darkness. She sat up immediately and saw yet another thing that made her stop in her tracks. She could see Fisk, and it was if she was looking at him from another room or another place. Ash was still attached to Fisk's head, and he was.. growing. It wasn't him just puffing his fur up to look bigger, but he was actually growing larger. He went from the size of a cocker 

Spaniel, to the size of a Great Dane, to the size of a Siberian tiger. He had lost all of his "Cuteness" and turned into something both beautiful and frightening. He literally tore Fisk into shreds. When he had finished he turned and looked right at her. She scooted back as he jumped through the barrier that separated her from the alleyway and from where she was now.  It seemed to ripple like water and then he stood before her. Celeste was scared to death. The creature that once was her cat made a rumbling noise, and she realized that he was purring. He butted her in the chest with his large head, nearly knocking her over. Although he looked like a huge beastie he was still Ash, her pet that adored her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and scratched behind his large ears. After calming down a bit, she looked around. The hole into the alleyway had disappeared and she was surrounded by darkness. It all seemed so familiar..

She looked at Ash. "Well, what now?"

"Well you could get off your duff and come with me," a silky voice replied from 

behind her.

She turned and saw a tall man with a mane of blonde hair, mismatched eyes, wearing a long black cloak that covered his frame. He smiled at her.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he said bowing slightly, his cloak parting to reveal a black leather tunic and black hose. "I am Jareth the Goblin King." He straightened back up and grinned at her, "And you are Celeste. We have been expecting you." 

Celeste stood silently, looking at the man that stood before her. It took every once of will power not to scream or cry in frustration.  After everything that had happened tonight she was on edge. 

"Okay" she said, "I don't know who you are or what you want with me, but someone better damn well give some explanation as to what the hell is going on around here. I just got away from some psycho, freak monster, who killed my partner by draining him of all his blood and who was going after me next. Then I watch my cat turn into something that looks like something out of the prehistoric age," 

At this she shot a glance at Ash who was licking blood and gore off his paws. 

She shuddered and continued with her rant, "And tear the shit out of the bloodsucking freak. Then I end up here, and I have no friggin clue how I ended up here." Her tone was now on the edge of hysterics, "So I'm not going anywhere until someone explains to me what the fuck is going on!" 

"Are you quite done yet?" he asked.

Celeste took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh, "Yes, quite. That felt good. Haven't had a good rant for some time." She looked at him, tilting her head. "Now do you care to explain to me what's going on?"

 Jareth smiled, "All of this will be explained to you in due time, now if you would come with me?" He held out his hand to her. 

Celeste looked at his hand for a moment, then reluctantly took it. As soon as her hand was firmly placed in his, they were no longer in the dark place. They were in a courtyard of a castle. Strange little, imp-like creatures scuttled about, and would occasionally stop, look at her, then scuttle off again.

Ash sat down and began grooming himself again as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Celeste shot him an annoyed look at how nonplused he was. Somewhere between here and the dark void he had returned to his original size. She picked him up and placed him back into her jacket. She then turned to Jareth

"Where are we now? And how did you do that?" she asked. He chucked.

"So many questions.." he walked around the courtyard, sweeping out his arms to encompass the whole area. "As for your first question, this is my Kingdom, the Underground." 

He turned back to her, "And as for your second question that's something you will learn how to do yourself, in due time. But for now, there's someone who needs to speak with you."

"Who?" Celeste asked, silently cursing herself because she knew that she sounded like a small impatient child.

"Why your father, of course," replied Jareth, grinning. Celeste looked at him with wide-eyed astonishment.

"M.. my  what?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Your father," replied Jareth, "As I said before, he's been expecting you."

Celeste shook her head, "Okay, someone pinch me, I'm either dreaming or hallucinating. We have gone beyond weird. Apparently I have now entered the Twilight Zone." Jareth just gave her a puzzled look. "Never mind. Okay, let's go and meet my 'father'." she muttered, "Damn, I must have some issues to be having a dream like this."

She followed Jareth out of the courtyard into a large marketplace. There were vendors all over the place hawking their wares. Celeste noticed that most of them weren't even human. She stopped in the middle of the marketplace, and stared around in wonder as she saw creatures that she had heard about in fairytales and folklore, which she never thought existed. Elves bargaining with Trolls, Fairies looking over a Dwarf's wares.  She was knocked out of her daze by someone poking her on the shoulder. She turned and saw Jareth standing there, his arms crossed. She looked at him sheepishly and continued to follow him to the castle.  As they reached the doors of the castle, Jareth veered off in another direction. Celeste stopped. "Aren't we going in there?" she asked pointing to the castle doors. 

"No," Jareth replied, leading her to a path that went to a small shaded alcove. 

"This is the only way to reach the Shadowlands from my kingdom."

"The Shadowlands?" she asked, remembering the Fisk's words about her being a 

Shadow kin, "So I'm Shadow kin right?"

Jareth gave her a surprised look, "Where did you hear that from?"

"From the guy, who tried to kill me," she replied. "What was he anyway? A Vampire?"

"No, not a Vampire," Jareth responded, "From your description, he sounds like a 

Ghoul."

"Ghoul? As in the kind that eat corpses and stuff?" asked Celeste.

"No, my dear," said Jareth as they entered the alcove. There was a stone bench in the corner and on the pebble-tiled floor there was an intricate runic pattern inlaid in stones.  He sat down then motioned for her to sit on the bench beside him. She obliged as she waited for him to continue.

"A ghoul is actually a bastardized and much less evolved version of a vampire. 

Ghouls loved to be mistaken for Vampires. But if you value you life, never call a Vampire a ghoul. They absolutely loathe it," he chucked. "Now enough of this.. Your father is waiting. Shall we?" He stood up, and held out his hand. She took his hand and they stood in the center of the stone pattern. The pattern began to glow and Celeste felt a tingling sensation that she could only describe as magic in the air. Suddenly there was an intense flash of light. When it had died down the Alcove was empty. They were on their way to the Shadowlands.  

  


chapter 10

They appeared in a large cavernous room. Celeste could see black shapes writhing and slithering about at the edge of her vision. When she tried to turn to get a better look at them, they disappeared, replaced by other ones. She was aware of low whispering voices in the background. She strained to listen but she couldn't make out what they were saying.  A sense of deja vu washed over her again. This was all so familiar, she felt as if she had been here before. 

She turned to Jareth, "What are those?" she asked, gesturing towards the moving shadows.

"They are Shadow kin," replied Jareth, "Don't worry, they won't hurt you."

"So, I'm Shadow kin too, just like them, huh?" she asked quietly.

Jareth laughed, "Child, you are nothing like them." 

"But, the ghoul," she protested, "He said I was one of them!"

 "Celeste," he replied, "Ghouls are rather stupid by nature. He simply mistaken you for something less than what you are."

"Then what am I, Jareth?"

"You are the daughter of the Shadow king, and rightful heir to his kingdom," He motion to the shadow creatures writhing around in the darkness, "And these are your subjects."

"My subjects?" she asked, "This is like some sort of fairy-tale. So, what am I supposed to be a princess or something?"

Jareth smiled and nodded. "Now its time for you to meet your father" He strode out of the cavernous room and Celeste has to hurry to catch up with him. They walked into a large high vaulted room. In the center there was a huge throne 

that reminded Celeste of something made by Giger. Jareth stopped about 10 feet in front of the throne. "Proteus," he called out, "your daughter is here to meet you."

As Jareth spoke, Celeste noticed shadows gathering at the foot of the throne. They became larger and started to take on a human shape. The shadows swirled and shifted until they became a tall man. From what she could see, the man that now stood before them was wearing a long black cloak that reached the floor. Tendrils of the cape writhed, and Celeste wondered if the cloak was alive. His hair was long and white, just like hers, and his eyes were a dazzling 

emerald green, but his skin was as black as pitch. It seemed to suck in all the light around it. She also saw that his features mirrored her own. This really was her father..  She was barely aware of Jareth leaving the room, as all her attention was focused on the figure before her. He came up to her and smiled softly, his cloak parted as his gloved hand extended to brush softly against her cheek. "Welcome home, my daughter." He said in a soft, melodic voice.

She pulled away from his touch. The Shadow king looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Why am I here?" she asked in an emotionless voice, "Why did you bring me here now, and not before?"

"I wanted you to lead a normal life, something, I regret, that your mother was deprived of after she met me."

"My mother?  What do you mean by that?" she asked.

The shadow king sighed, and sat down in his throne. "When your mother became pregnant with you, things became.. difficult."

Celeste gave him a puzzled look, and he continued, "I have many enemies who want to seize  my kingdom and my powers. You were a threat to them because you are my heir. They would do anything to get rid of you so they could seize my power. I've already lost one daughter and I didn't want to lose you as well."

"I have.. I mean had a sister?" she asked.

"Yes," replied her father, his voice tinged with sorrow, "But she was born a very long time ago. She even had a son, but she was killed by my enemies shortly after his birth." He looked at her, his eyes full of sorrow.

 "That's why I left you in the mundane world. I thought you'd be safer there. But your powers are manifesting themselves now, and without any control over them, you're practically a beacon to any magic sensing creature, which puts you in extreme danger."

Celeste sighed running her hand over her face, brushed her bangs from her eyes. She leaned on a nearby pillar, put pulled away quickly when she realized it was alive. 

"So, what happens now?" she asked.

The Shadow king scratched his chin thoughtfully. 

"Well you need to learn how to use your powers so that you can defend yourself. Jareth can teach you. And he can be your 'guardian' until you powers are developed enough."

Celeste shook her head. "This is to weird. This can't possibly be happening. This is a dream. Maybe it was the pizza I had for lunch.."

She took out a Swiss army knife from her jeans pocket, opened it up and slashed the blade across the tip of her index finger.

"Ouch!" she yelped, looking incredulously at her now bleeding finger.

"What ever are you doing, child?" her father asked in a concern tone.

"I.. I felt that," she looked at him with fear and confusion in her eyes, "This isn't a dream is it?" she asked. He father looked at her sadly and shook his head.

"No, my dear, it's not."

  


chapter 11

Jareth leaned against a wall, waiting for Celeste to emerge from her father's throne room. . He was still a bit astonished from the change in her, since he had seen her last. He had stayed true to his promise to the Shadow king, and did not interfere with her life or see her, although he longed to. Especially after that Sarah business....

* * * *

 It had been a year after he had sent Celeste to the Mundane world when Sarah had wished her brother to his kingdom.  He had planned to play with her as he did the others, and add her brother to his Goblin army but when he held Toby in his arms, it brought back the empty void of loneliness that he had felt after he sent Celeste away. 

As he played with the child he decided that wasn't going to turn him into a goblin. No, he would raise this child as his own, and as for his sister.. He would play the role of the villain as was expected of him.  He played with her for a while, giving her the illusion that she was winning, and then dropping another nearly impassable obstacle in her path.

After watching her persistently go through all the obstacles he place in front of her, he began to admire her determination and tenacity; she wasn't like the others. She truly felt sorry for wishing her brother here, and she wanted him back. As he watched her, his admiration grew. He decided that he would keep her in the labyrinth and give her the choice to stay of her own free will. If she didn't, he would simply erase her memories of her previous life, so she wouldn't miss her family or friends. He waited patiently for her as she wandered through the Escher room, looking for Toby. Finally they came to the final showdown. She tried to use the verse from her silly book, but she couldn't even remember the words.  With a wave of his hand, he froze time. He paced around her motionless form, then stopped, looking deep into her large brown eyes. His long fingers 

brushed gently against her cheek. He knew that she wouldn't want to stay here. 

Although she had forced him to play the villain, he did not want her to resent him, hate him. Just one wave of his hand and she would forget her former life, she would think she had always lived here in the Labyrinth. And he would no longer be alone.

"Why Jareth?" asked a soft voice full of anger and disappointment. Jareth turned around suddenly and found himself back in the Void. Standing before him was Celeste, her face bruised, her skin pale, and her clothes torn. Her gray eyes were filled with pain and accusation. 

"Celeste, how did you..?"

"What gives you the right?" she asked softly, then anger flooded into her voice, "What gives YOU the RIGHT?!?  You took away from me the best parts of my life, all my memories of my past.."

"But it was for your own good," Jareth pleaded, "You would of never gone back if you had remembered."

She shook her head. "You have no right making choices on other peoples lives just on a whim Jareth.  All you know how to do it use people, just to make yourself happy."

"Celeste please," he reached out for her, but she seemed to be out of his reach. The more he tried to touch her, the farther away she was until she disappeared. He found himself standing back in the room with Sarah, his hands still reaching out for a ghost from his past. He looked at Sarah for what seemed like an eternity, then waved his hands to release the spell and let the words that she had been searching for come to her. Sarah looked up at Jareth, barley noticing the stricken look on his face, the verse spilling from her lips like water.

"You have no power over me.."

* * * *

 Jareth shook his head to clear his mind of old memories. He heard stirring from the throne room, and saw Celeste shakily exit the room. Her face was pale and she had a bloody handkerchief wrapped around her finger. Jareth went over to her, taking her wounded hand. "What happened?" he asked in a  soft voice full of concern. 

"Nothing," she replied, wincing when he unwrapped her makeshift bandage. He muttered something that she couldn't quite make out as her brushed his fingers over her wound. She felt a tingling sensation, which then turned into a feeling of warmth. Then it stopped. When Jareth pulled his fingers away, her cut was no longer there.

"How did you do that?" she asked, as she examined her newly healed finger. 

Jareth shrugged. "It's just a simple healing spell. I'll teach it to you some 

day."

"Yes, I remember he, my.. Father, told me you would tutor me in magic," she looked at him. "So much for me having a normal life, huh?" She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself for the challenge put to her. She opened her eyes and looked at Jareth.

" Shall we go?" 

Jareth smiled and held out his hand. Celeste took it with no hesitation and they were off back to his Kingdom.

* * * *

Celeste strolled about the market place, looking at each stand and kiosk to see if anything caught her fancy. Several months had passed since she had first arrived in the Underground, and it had taken her a while to get used to the strange creatures that wandered about. She remembered when Jareth had taken her to her new room. When she opened the door, she saw that all her worldly possessions, that had been left at her apartment back in the Mundane world, were in her new room. 

"How did you do this?" she asked in amazement as she plopped down on the bed. Jareth leaned against the doorframe and smiled. 

"It was nothing, really. I just materialized what I thought you would like, and added a few things that I thought would enhanced the decor the décor."

Celeste looked up at the canopy bed she was laying on and at a beautiful wooden vanity closet that stood in a corner of the room. "You certainly have wonderful taste, Jareth," she said smiling, as she snuggled into the downy mattress of her bed. Jareth looked at her for a moment, and Celeste couldn't read his expression. She sat up, and looked at him, tilting her head. "Is there something wrong Jareth?" she asked. He looked at her for a moment longer, and shook his head as if to clear his vision. "No," he said softly, "Nothing at all." The he grinned at her again; "Well I'll leave you to yourself. I'm sure you'd like to settle in." then he left Celeste to herself.  Looking back Celeste had noticed Jareth seemed to go through.. mood swings. One moment, like when they were in the middle of her magic lessons, they would be having fun laughing when she made a silly mistake, but then, if she brushed her hand against his or if they got to close, his mood would change. He would become distant and leave suddenly. She couldn't deny that she felt an attraction to him, and she was almost positive that he felt something for her, but every time she thought something was going to happen, he would run away. 

A goblin bumped into her, making her lose her train of thought. The goblin groveled and apologized profusely when he saw who she was. She smiled and told him it was all right and it was just an accident. When he finally went off she continued to walk through the market place. Maybe she would find something to keep her mind off Jareth.

  


chapter 12

 Jareth watched as Ash made an attack on a crystal bubble and missed it completely and crash into the wall. Jareth had been planning to use the crystal to watch Celeste, but every time he called one up, the cat would appear out of nowhere and knock the bubble out of his hands. Jareth would scowl at the cat, intending to frighten it, but the creature just stared back as if to say, "I'm not scared of you". After several attempts Jareth gave up and let the cat have the damn crystal. Even though he had created the creature he had absolutely no control over it. He had tied a piece of Celeste's essence to Hoggle's trinket to give it a form and binded it to several spirits that had the qualities that Jareth thought a good protector would have. Although Jareth had no knowledge of cat's nature, he improvised and did the best he could. He made the creature loyal to only Celeste, made it so that it would comfort her when she was upset, cheer her up when she was sad, and made it strong enough to protect her from any danger she would encounter. Looking at it now, if he didn't know better, he would of thought that it was a silly air headed creature. He winced as the cat rebounded off a wall and nearly knocked over a suit of goblin armor in the corner. Suddenly Ash froze. Its fur stood on end and its eyes grew wide. Jareth didn't have to wait to see what it was reacting to. 

"What the hell is that doing here?" sneered Ian as he slid up next to Jareth's throne. Jareth could see his cousin's discomfort. He supposed it was natural. Cats and birds did have an inborn animosity towards each other. He had to admit he himself was wary of the little creature, especially after seeing what it had done to that ghoul, without even trying. 

"It belongs to the girl. And I suggest you don't do anything to it, Ian. Not only will it upset the girl and her father, but I don't think the creature itself will take to kindly to it."

Ian snorted and looked at the cat, which seemed to have regained its composure. Ash grinned at Ian and Jareth then disappeared in puff of smoke. Ian's mouth gaped open. "Did that thing just smile at me?" he asked incredulously.

Jareth shrugged, "It's smarter than it looks," he replied, then made a face, "Although looking at it is hard to believe."

Ian paced around the room and threw a glance at his cousin, "So Jareth looks like you finally got your wish. She's here permanently."

"Yes and I want you to be on your best behavior, cousin," Jareth narrowed his eyes, "You are not to harm a hair on her head. If you do, the Shadow King will be the least of your worries."

"No worries, dear cousin," Ian laughed, "I am many things, but stupid isn't one of them. You can be assured that _I_ won't harm her at all."

* * * *

There was a loud commotion at the edge of the Market place. Having nothing better to do, Celeste went over to see what was going on. There was a portly old man, who was wearing nothing but a blanket around him, yelling about he had been robbed. Celeste moved closer, to hear what he was saying.

"I tell you he must be stopped! He attacked me in the forest and didn't even 

leave me a stitch of clothing to wear" he yelled, pulling the blanket tightly around him. "He'll rob us all blind!"

A flower merchant just sneered at him, "Are you going to stop him, Marcus? He is called the King of Thieves, for a reason."

The old man shook his fist. "He'll steal your wives and then all your money! The Goblin King should do something about this!"

"As long as Corwin, doesn't enter the Goblin City or the Labyrinth, Jareth won't concern himself in the matter," said the flower vendor, "Anyways he doesn't steal from honest folks."

The old merchant sputtered, "Zander, are you saying that my business is anything but honest?  I give the best deals on this side of the Underground for weapons and armor and."

"Hush up Marcus," Zander reached behind his stand and pulled out some old clothes. "Put these on and I'll have one of my boys drive you back to your place."

The older man yelled something back but Celeste was no longer listening. Corwin the King of Thieves huh? Well it would be interesting to see if she could find him and it would take her mind off Jareth. If only she still had her piece. Even though Jareth had taught her some defensive spells she still felt naked without her gun. There was a whoosh of air and a thump beside her. She turned and saw Ash and he was sitting on a backpack. She lifted him off and opened it. Inside was a packed lunch and at the bottom, her gun 

in it's holster. She looked down at her cat. "Ash, how did you..?" She stopped then smiled. After what she had seen him do already, this should have been no surprise. She put on her pack and lifted Ash on to her shoulder. "So, little guy, you up for an adventure?" she asked as she rubbed him under his chin. He meeped at her and licked her nose. Celeste laughed and headed out the gates of the market place right into the heart of the Black Forest

  


chapter 13

Celeste stayed on the main road for about five minutes before she decided to wander off the path. She had a curious streak to her and the woods seemed to call out to her to come explore. She wasn't worried about getting lost. While in the Jareth's castle there were several times that she would get lost in the massive passageways, and every time, Ash would pop up and lead her to where she wanted to go. He now sat on her shoulders, lying limp, like a fur stole and would occasionally lick her on the cheek on meep at her when she wasn't careful and jostled him. As she wandered deeper into the forest she noticed that it was getting quieter. She didn't know if she should be alarmed or not, but she pulled out her gun just in case trouble should arise. Then in the middle of the silence, she heard something. She followed the sound, not quite able to figure out what it was. As she got closer, she realized it was music. The same music she heard in her dreams, the same music that had come from the child's snow globe. She ran towards the music now. Ash had to dig his claws into the straps of her backpack, just so he wouldn't fall off. They came to a large clearing and in the center of it was a large rock. Leaning against the rock was the girl, curled up into a ball, the snow globe held tightly in her hands. She was wearing a torn nightgown, and her long white hair hid her face. As She drew closer, she realized this wasn't the same child from the alleyway. It couldn't be. This girl was much older, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old. As Celeste drew closer the girl lifted up her head up. Her face was bruised, her nose bloodied, and her eyes were puffy and swollen from crying.  Ash hopped off Celeste's shoulders and went up to the little girl. He looked at Celeste, then back to the girl, then gave out a confused squeak.

"Who are you?" Celeste asked in a soft voice. The child opened her eyes and Celeste found herself being sized up by solemn gray eyes. The child reached its hand out to her and Celeste went to take it.  Just before their fingers touched the image that assaulted Celeste, when Fisk had trapped her returned.

_:: A large man loomed over her, his hands tearing at her nightshirt, pulling her _

_shorts down.::_

"No!" she screamed as her hands flew to her eyes, as if that would block out the horrible vision. The memory left as quickly as it had come. When she finally opened her eyes the girl was gone, and Ash had a look of puzzlement on his face.

 "Where did she go?" she said half to herself.

"Where did who go, Milady?" asked a smooth cultured voice. Celeste turned suddenly to see a tall figure draped in a black cape and hood, wearing a forest green tunic and black leather pants, leaning against a tree.  She was tempted to pull out her gun, but she did not want to startle this guy into doing something. And if worst came to worst she could always try out her knew powers. The stranger pulled down his hood, to reveal a handsome face. He had crystal blue eyes, dark tan skin with a rakish goatee and long black hair with streaks of red in it. He grinned devilishly.

"Who are you?" she asked shooting a look at Ash to see if he was growing. The cat just sat there and yawned. "Ah, how rude of me," he bowed deeply, "Let me introduce myself.  My name is Corwin," He grinned even wider, "Otherwise known as the king of Thieves."

chapter 14

Ian was flying through the night, following a trace spell strand. Everything was working nicely back in the underground. He could see that Jareth plainly wanted the girl, but his promise to the Shadow King held him back. This would be his downfall. Ian wanted his cousin's throne and nothing would stop him from getting what he desired. He was sick of Jareth always acting so superior towards him. And Jareth always sided with the mortals, and never let Ian release the pure chaos that was part of his nature. If everything went according to plan, he would be the new Goblin King and Jareth.. Jareth would be crushed under his boot, like anyone else who would try to oppose him.  The strand began to get hazy and Ian concentrated harder so he wouldn't lose it. Finally he could see the strand leading towards a house. The strand circled around the house several times before plunging into a window to a bedroom. Ian flew to a nearby tree and peeked in. The woman inside had aged considerable since he had last seen her. She had just been a child when he had last seen her, wandering through Jareth's Labyrinth. Her once long brown hair had been hacked short, and it had become very curly. She had mane lines and creases on her face making her look years older than she really was. It looked as if she had had a very hard life since leaving the Underground. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying, and  she was sniffling as she hurriedly packed a suitcase. She occasionally stopped to blow her nose. She looked absolutely miserable. She was going to work perfectly. Ian flew towards the window and beat his wings against the glass. The woman jumped, startled by the sudden sound. She tried to peer outside but it was to dark to see what it was. The window flew open, and mist poured into the room.

"Jareth?" the woman whispered in a hopeful voice.

Ian took human form and stepped out of the mist. A look of bitter disappointment crossed the woman's face, which made him grin wider. 

"You must be Sarah," he said in a smooth silky voice, "I need you help with Jareth. You do remember him don't you? The one that kidnapped you brother?"

* * * *

Celeste looked at the man before her warily. "You're the guy who robbed that old man in the market place." The King of Thieves smiled at her. "No, my dear, I did not 'rob' him of his valuables. I merle relieved him of items that he had cheated out of the people of the Underground."

Celeste raised her eyebrow. "Ah so you're a Robin Hood wannabe?"

Corwin chuckled, "Not quite, Milady. More like he was trying to be like me. I was around long before he started his racket."

Celeste looked at the man as if he had sprouted another head. "You're crazy you know that?" Corwin just smiled at her, leaning against a tree. Celeste continued, "Talk about illusions of grandeur. I mean you'd have to be centuries old, and you look like you're about my age, maybe even younger."

"Ah Celeste," he replied, shaking his head, "Never take anything in this world at face value."

Her eyes widened. "H.. How did you know my name?"

"That's quite simple," a voice replied from behind them. Celeste turned and saw Jareth standing behind him, with a disapproving look upon his face. The Goblin King and the King of Thieves faced each other for a few moments. Finally Jareth broke the silence. "I heard you were back in the Underground. And already up to trouble again."

Celeste looked from one man to the other. "Do you know each other?"

Jareth ran a hand through his blonde mane, and let out a long sigh. "Yes, I do apologize. Let me introduce you. Celeste, this individual standing before you is my twin brother, Jeremy."

  


chapter 15

Sarah stared at Ian suspiciously, "Why are you here?"

Ian feigned concern; "I need your help. You're the only one that has ever beaten him."

Sarah gave him a puzzled look, so he elaborated. "He's gone mad since you've left. He has some insane plan on taking over the whole Underground."

"But doesn't Jareth already rule all of it?" she asked. Ian shook his head, "No not all of it. He just rules over the Labyrinth and it's boundaries. He has set his sights on the throne of the Shadow King, one of the most powerful creatures in the Underground."

"What does that have to do with me?" asked Sarah in a stubborn tone, as she went back to her packing.

"Well," Ian said, pausing for dramatic effect, "The Shadow King has a daughter and Jareth has placed her under his spell." A dark look, filled with jealousy, passed over Sarah's face. Ian continued on, trying to keep a straight face "He plans on using her as a pawn in taking over the Shadow Kingdom. You beat him once. You must stop him."

At this moment Ian used a simple can-trip to peek into her thoughts. Usually he wouldn't be so subtle but it was essential to his plan for her to believe she was doing this of her own free will. He could feel her jealousy and anger washing against him like a black wave, and he stood a moment relishing, savoring the feeling. He could hear her thoughts as clear as a bell, 'Why didn't he pick me! He was supposed to come back to me, take me away from this place!'

"Will you help me?" he asked holding out his hand to her. She looked at it for a moment, then slowly nodded her head. "Yes," she said in a tired voice, "I'll help."

As she took his hand she couldn't help feeling like she had just made a deal with the devil. She didn't know how right she was. 

* * * *

"I can't believe you're really Jareth's brother," Celeste said, giving Jeremy a dirty look. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Jeremy smiled and shrugged, "It was supposed to be a surprise, and if I had told you it wouldn't have been."

Celeste shook her head at him and turned to Jareth, who had a cross look upon his face. He turned away from his brother to face Celeste directly. "Celeste we were supposed to meet for you magic lesson. I was worried when you didn't make an appearance."

"Oh!" Celeste cried. "I'm so sorry Jareth. I totally forgot."

"Yes, well you should be heading back to the castle," He threw a glance at his brother, "I'll catch up with you."

Celeste looked from brother to brother, then shrugged. She picked Ash up then turned to Jeremy, "Well it was nice to meet you, and I hope we'll see each other again." She turned away and headed back to the castle. 

Jareth watched until she was sure she was out of earshot, then turned to his brother.

"Why are you here Jeremy?" he asked in a curt tone. "I thought you had your fill of the Underground."

Jeremy shrugged again,. "I thought I would come back to my old stomping grounds for a change of pace. I see you've been keeping yourself busy while I've been gone."

Jareth snorted, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know perfectly well that I'm talking about the girl. So are you an item?"

"No," Jareth snapped, "I'm just her tutor and her guardian. That's all, nothing more."

Jeremy raised an eyebrow then grinned again. "Then you won't have any problems if I take a shot then?"

"You stay away from her, Jeremy," Jareth growled, "If you so much as touch her

I'll.."

"You'll what, Jareth? Toss me into the Bog of Eternal Stench?" Jeremy chuckled without any mirth, "You yourself said that you had no claim on her, and you know I don't respond very well to threats."

"I don't want you hurting her like you have everyone else, Jeremy," replied Jareth in a bitter tone. The grin had faded from Jeremy's face. Both brothers looked at each other in stony silence, then Jareth finally spoke. 

"You can stay here as long as you like. Let it not be said that I am not generous."

Jeremy pulled his hood back over his head, and bowed, "As you wish, 'your majesty'." He said in a sarcastic tone. Then he gathered his black cloak around himself, turning into a large black raven, and flew off into the night. Jareth stood alone in the woods for a moment, then leaned against a tree and let out a long weary sigh.

  


chapter 16

Sarah found herself in Jareth's throne room. The amulet that Ian had given her, glowed softly, making her invisible to everyone, including Jareth. She looked around in amazement. It had been so long since she had been here and many things had changed. For one thing, the castle was much cleaner than it had been before. A pang of melancholy washed over her. After she had left the Labyrinth her life seemed so mundane. At first she almost convinced herself that it was just a dream, but one night as she went to check on Toby, as he was sleeping, she saw something that made her think otherwise. On the sill of an open window stood a large white owl looking down at the sleeping child. Sarah stood frozen for a moment, then uttered a single word.

 "Jareth?"

The owl looked up at her for a moment then flew off into the night She cried out to him, but it was too late. He was gone.  She tried to invoke him again, asking for him to take her away, but he never came. She lived her life in bitter disappointment after that. How could the clumsy kiss of a teenage boy compare to the Goblin King? She went from one relationship to another, either having her partner walk out on her because she expected too much or she left because her partner was never able to live up to her expectation. When Ian had appeared to her, she had been in another fight with her beau. They had gotten into yet another fight, and finally Sarah had called it quits. She was getting ready to leave when he came into her life. Now she was back here, supposedly to stop Jareth. She really didn't trust Ian, but she also knew that Jareth was not to be trusted either. And at the moment, Ian seemed the lesser of two evils.

Ian had told her the invisibility spell on her amulet worked only as long as she didn't attempt to interact with anyone around her. She wandered in and out of darkened corridors, trying to navigate her way through the castle. She wondered what Ian planned for her to do to stop Jareth. At this point she was instructed to watch and wait. Although at this rate, she'd be stuck wandering through this infernal castle for centuries before she would see anything worth watching. She passed another corridor and then stopped dead in her tracks. She had finally come across a room that she was very familiar with. The Escher room. She stood over looking the insane design of the room as old memories

flooded over her. 

"YOU DON'T BELONG HERE!" a small voice cried behind her. Sarah turned and saw a small girl, who couldn't have been more than five. She wore a silver gown and her long white hair was pinned back with flowers. Her angelic face scowled with anger and her eyes were filled with an intense hatred. Sarah knelt down and reached a hand out to the child. "It's alright sweetie," she said in a soft voice, "I'm here to help.." 

"No!" the girl said as she drew back, "You'll ruin everything! You should of never come back!"  As the girl spoke the room flicked and the air shimmered for a few moments and they were suddenly in the ballroom that Jareth had taken Sarah in her peach induced haze. 

"What is this?" Sarah murmured with wide-eyed astonishment. She could see ghosts of the dancers flit past her, then fade away into obscurity. She turned her gaze back to the child whose face was streaked with tears.

"This place was mine," the girl snarled, "You've poisoned it.  He made this place for me!"

The ghost dancers seemed to become more solid, and there began circling Sarah menacingly. 

"Leave now," the girl said, her voice dripping with loathing, "or you'll be sorry!"

Sarah looked at the girl, her eyes wide with realization, "It was you.. in the Ballroom. You were controlling the dancers all along."

The girl said nothing and there was a bright blinding light that made Sarah shut her eyes tightly. Suddenly Sarah felt a torrent of air blast around her. Then it stopped as quickly as it had started. When she opened her eyes again she found herself in the Escher room, alone.

* * * *

Sleep kept evading Celeste all night. Every time it felt as if she was about to slip into oblivion, something yanked her wide awake. She sat up and kicked off her covers with disgust. Ash was nowhere to be seen, so she assumed he was out on a midnight hunt. She yawned and looked around her room, when her eyes caught on something. She stood up and walked over to the vanity the stood across from her bed and picked up a picture that was sitting there. It had been taken when she graduated from the Police Academy. She looked so new and full of hope. Next to her was Harry, dwarfing her in size. She smiled for a moment, reliving the memory. Then a little voice inside her head whispered,

'How can you be happy? Harry's dead' 

Celeste froze. Harry was dead. She saw his body after the Ghoul had murdered him. How could she have forgotten? Tears streaked down her cheeks as the realization hit her with the force of a Mac truck. She fell to her knees cradling the picture in her arms. Harry was her best friend, he was like at father to her. How could she have forgotten him so easily? 

"Celeste?"

She looked up and saw Jareth standing at her door looking down at her. She tired to say something to him, but she burst into another sobbing fit. Jareth sat next to Celeste and wrapped his arms around her, cradling her close to him leaning his cheek against the top of her head. She drew close to him leaning against his chest as she softly sobbed. After a while her sobs began to quite down. Jareth brushed her bangs away from her face and wiped the tears that streamed down her checks.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a soft voice as he brought up her chin so he could

see clearly into her face. 

"It… It's H-harry," she managed to stammer out. Jareth gave her a puzzled look.

"My partner," she explained, sniffling, "He was killed that night that I first came here. And it's like I totally forgot about him.. " At this she began crying again. "Why did I forget him Jareth?" she sobbed, "He was my best friend!"

"It's alright," Jareth said in a soothing voice as stroked her soft white hair, holding her closer. "The Labyrinth has a tendency to make people forget things about the mundane world, especially painful things, if they stay here long enough. As for your partner.."

Jareth pulled forth one of his crystals and Celeste could see an image form inside. It was a hospital room. She could see a large black man on a hospital bed, shouting at several nurses frantically scurrying around. Celeste laughed out loud when she realized the man on the bed was Harry, being an absolute bear to those poor nurses. 

"You see?" Jareth said to her, smiling gently, "He's alright. I'll even take you to see him after he's out of that hospital." 

Celeste hugged him tightly, "Thank you so much Jareth. I don't know how to thank you," She looked up at him smiling, her eyes looking into his. Their gazes locked and suddenly their lips came together in a long and passionate kiss. 

* * * *

This couldn't have been more perfect if he had planned it. As soon as Ian saw Jareth walk into Celeste's room, he "arranged" to have Sarah find her way to the room. And that kiss, as soon as Sarah saw that, Ian could feel her anger and hatred rolling off her in waves. That was all that he needed. Ian reached into her mind and took her delicious emotions and twisted and magnified them. He then transported her to his chambers. She stood frozen, with an expression of shock mingled with jealous anger. Ian looked her up and down and licked his lips. With a flick oh his wrist Sarah now stood nude before him. He slithered behind and pressed his taunt body against hers. Ian ran his hands over her bare flesh, fondling her full breasts. He ran his tongue up her neck, savoring her taste. He could take her right now, like this, but he had plans for her. He couldn't risk tainting her and having Jareth find out what he had planned. Anyways he could always have her after he had taken care of Jareth. She would be aware of everything he did to her. She would scream, of course, but then he liked it when they screamed. He stepped away, and made her clothes materialize again. He lifted the spell from her and she shook her head and shuddered as if she could sense that something vile and unclean had touched her. She then turned her hate filled gaze towards him. He headed towards his bed where a small chest lay. He opened it up and brought forth a cruel looking dagger. He stood before Sarah, grinning from ear to ear, his eyes flashing with glee. 

"Do you know what you must do?" he asked, holding forth the dagger. Sarah looked down at the weapon, her eyes burning with intense anger, then took it into her hands. 

"I..  must.. kill Jareth" she said almost choking on her hatred. Ian smiled and placed his arm around her shoulder in a cordial manner. 

"I'm so glad we agree on that," he said before he broke out into a fit of maniacal laughter.

  


chapter 17

Ash wandered around the hallway of the castle on his nightly rounds. He figured that it was better to see trouble before it happened and put a halt to it right then and there. He had taken his natural form since he found it easier to navigate in. The form that Jareth had binded him to was hard to control and he would often be seen as clumsy and stupid. But then it was good for people to underestimate him. He sat down and began grooming, separating black fur from white. He was glad that they had come to the Underground, because he could be more of himself around his Mistress. She was now starting to realize that he was much smarter than she gave him credit for.  A sound at the end of the hallway drew Ash away from his ruminations and bath. He went to investigate, stalking close the ground. He heard a child giggling, which startled him, because it sounded like his mistress when she was just a cub. He turned a corner and saw something that made him stop. Sitting there was his Mistress as she had been 10 years ago. Just like in the Forest. She saw him and smiled. "Ash!" she cried as she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. At first he thought it was a trick. But this cub looked like his Mistress, she smelt like her, she even 'felt' like her. She smiled at him and he could see sadness there, similar to the sadness he saw in her when they had first met. She leaned over to him and began to whisper into his ear. Ash's eyes brightened and he began to nod slowly with understanding. The little Mistress stepped back from him. "Will you help me?"

she asked.  Ash answered with a nod and a large rumbling purr. 

* * * *

The kiss seemed to last an eternity. Even though his body screamed at him not to, Jareth placed his hands on Celeste's shoulders and pulled away from the kiss.  Celeste looked up at him, startled. 

"Jareth?" she asked her eyes filled with puzzled confusion. He stood up and backed away from her towards the door.

"I can't," he mumbled, his voice thick with emotion. His body ached with need for her but he resisted. "Celeste, I'm.." he looked away from her, "I'm sorry." 

He left her room not looking back, because he knew that if he saw her face he would lose his resolve.  He stormed into his chambers, slamming the door behind him.

"Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!" he yelled as he slammed his fist into the stone wall. The pain helped a bit in clearing his hormone-clouded mind. He wanted Celeste, needed her as much as his body needed air to breathe. But he knew he couldn't have her. He did not want to hurt her again, as he did all those years ago.  Jareth reached under his bed and pulled out a bottle. It was a bottle of very old Elven blood-wine. He kept a stash of it for special occasions. He pulled out the cork with his teeth and threw himself on a chair in the corner of the room. He drank half the bottle in one swig. The alcohol took effect almost immediately, which if the Goblin King hadn't been so upset, he would have

found strange. He would usually have to go through several bottles to get even a buzz.  His vision began to blur as he took another drink, emptying the bottle. He let it fall to the floor, and was barely aware of it shattering into fragments. He felt himself slip into the lull of sleep and gave into it willingly, hoping his dreams would be more peaceful than his reality. 

As Jareth slept a small hand reached to unbutton the top buttons of his shirt. It pulled out a silver amulet on a necklace and gently pulled it over his head. The hand gently brushed against his cheek. A soft voice whispered in his ear, "Don't worry Jer, I'm going to make every thing alright."  

* * * *

Celeste sat in shock for several minutes after Jareth had left. Why had he done that? She knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him, but something was stopping him. What was he so afraid of? She shakily stood up from the floor. She felt like crying again but stopped herself. She had done enough crying already and it wouldn't do her any good. Celeste sat on the edge of her bed feeling suddenly very tired. Not knowing what else to do she curled up in bed and in an instant she was asleep. It could have been a few hours or a few minutes, when she was aware of a small furry thing kneading her stomach.

"Ash," she mumbled, "What are you doing?" Ash butted his head into her hand and she could feel that he carried something in his mouth. She sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes then took the object from Ash. It was some sort of amulet on a leather cord. The amulet was a sort of triangular shape with the bottom points curving downwards. And there was a raised circle in the center with some sort of design in it. It seemed to radiate it's own warmth. She looked at Ash.

"Where did you get this?" she asked. He looked at her and meowed at her. Celeste shook her head. 

"Well what am I supposed to do with this?"

Ash gave her a look that said she should know perfectly well what to do.  

"So I put this on, right?" 

Ash looked her right in the eyes, and nodded. Well that was good enough for her. She slipped the necklace over her head and waited. Nothing happened. 

"What now?" she asked him. The cat just shrugged yawns and curled up next to her and dozed off. 

"You little bastard," Celeste said in an irritated tone as she followed suite and curled back up and fell asleep.

She was aware of things moving around her, brushing up against her. She opened her eyes and found herself floating in a black void. Dark shapes slithered around her and occasionally curled around her legs. Suddenly the shaped began to converge on her, coiling around her legs, crawling up her body. It never occurred to her to be frightened. She felt safe here. The dark shapes covered her body entirely, and Celeste felt a peacefulness that was reminiscent of being in the womb. Then the shadows pulled away from her leaving her nude except for the amulet that hung between her breasts. Before her was a ball gown made of black and red velvet. It was the same gown from her dream. Then a realization came upon her. This was a dream as well. She closed her eyes for an instant and she found herself in the same caves from her previous dream, and she was now wearing the ball gown. She walked through the cave until she reached the foot of a massive stairwell.  Sitting there was the child. She saw Celeste and her eyes lit up. The girl ran up to her with open arms and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to hug her. Celeste pulled back and looked at the child's happily sparkling eyes.

"What is this?" she asked, "Please tell me what's going on?"

The girl smiled. "It will all be shown to you soon," she said. "But we must hurry. There isn't much time." The girl pulled away and began to run up the stairs. She turned momentarily. "C'mon!" she said, then continued up the stairwell. Celeste did not hesitate. She pulled up her skirts and ran after the girl. When she reached the top she saw a large door before her. It was made of stone and very plain except for an indentation that looked like the amulet she wore. She touched the door but pulled away when she heard a hissing

growl. She pulled back and looked up. Atop the door was a dragon. It looked exactly like that mask from her first dream. Its eyes glowed at her and it seemed to be waiting for her to do something. Then she remembered the amulet. She held it up and placed it in the indentation. She heard a cracking sound as the seal of the door opened. The dragon nodded its approval and rested its head on its paws and turned into stone. She stepped into the room and was amazed by what she saw. 

*   *   *   *

Jareth awoke suddenly, disoriented from the massive hangover he had. As a habit his hand reached to his neck to feel the amulet, but it wasn't there. He stood up suddenly filled with immense rage. He pulled forth a crystal and looked into it. The door that the amulet opened was standing open. He snarled. Whoever was in that room was going to pay.  

*   *   *   *

The room was covered with mirrors of different shapes at sizes and hanging from the ceiling were bits of colored glass and mirror, which were tied with colorful ribbon. A gust of wind blew through the room and the glass made a melodic tinkling sound. In the Center of the room was the little girl. She smiled.

"Welcome Home," she said before she was engulfed in a flash of bright light. When Celeste opened her eyes she saw a crystal bubble floating in the air. It divided into many points of bright light which flew into the glass and mirrors. She saw images of Jareth and the little girl. She could clearly see that Jareth loved this child and that she loved him back just as much. Music filled the room and Celeste turned to see a pedestal in the center of the room, which a glass snow globe sat upon. The dancer inside the globe slowly turned. The more she listened to the music the more she began to remember. Memories that had long been denied to her, reappeared. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she reached down and took the crystal bauble. She even remembered the words to the lullaby sang to her so long ago.

"On the wind, cross the sea, hear this song and remember…" she began to sing softly to herself, then a soft familiar voice behind her joined her in song. She turned to see Jareth, his eyes glistening with tears he was unable to shed. 

"Soon you'll be home with me….." he finished and held his hand out to her.

"Oh Jareth," Celeste reached out her hand to take his. But before they even made contact, She saw Jareth's eyes go wide and a sliver on blood run down from his lips. He collapsed to the floor, and behind him stood a young woman, with utter hate burning in her eyes, holding a bloody dagger. 

chapter 18

Ian picked his way through the underbrush following the trail of assorted goblin bones and armor. There was one last pawn he had to put into play to assure that his plan was a success. He came across some firey remains. Now as far as he knew fireys were nigh invincible, but whoever did this shredded the firey and scattered its remains so they couldn't come in contact with each other and regenerate. He finally came across the firey's head. It had been flayed and the bottom jaw had been ripped off and placed next to it. The firey looked up at him; it's remaining eye rolled around in its socket. Its expression seemed to beg for someone to come along and put it out of its misery. Ian chuckled and continued on his way. At the end of the trail something large rustled in the bushes. He waited patiently as something that looked as if it has come from a drug-induced nightmare stepped forth. It had tentacles and flippers where there should have been arms and legs. It snarled at him, but Ian raised a hand, which seemed to immobilize the creature.

"Mr. Coleman, how nice to see you again," he smiled. The monstrosity gave him a puzzled look. 

"Actually," Ian elaborated, "I was a good friend of your wife." The creature that was, Mr. Coleman, tried to speak, but its malformed mouth only produced unintelligible grunts..

Ian shook his head, "This really won't do," he sighed and waved his hand in an arcane gesture.. The creature screeched in pain as its body transformed, becoming vaguely human.  One of his flipper clad arms transformed into an almost human looking hand that ended with long fingers with 3-inch claws. The flipper on the other arm split in half and became twin tentacles tipped with barbed quills. His legs became more powerful and his translucent, milky white skin began sprouting more quills. The human face that the Goblin King had twisted reformed except for his eyes. They were still as black as tar. After the pain of the transformation has washed away, the monster that was Mr. Coleman inspected his new body. "Very nice," he hissed and was pleasantly surprised to find that he could speak clearly. Ian circled around him, surveying his handiwork. "Now that you're in a more useful form, I have an errand for you to do."

The monster raised an eyebrow. Ian grinned. "Don't worry I think you'll enjoy this very much. Remember a certain little girl that was the beginning of your decent into this place?"

The creature snarled barring double rowed shark teeth. Ian chuckled, "Well she's grown in to a rather luscious little thing, and she's all yours for the taking.."

The monster ran a long serpentine tongue over thin lips. "What do I have to do?" he rasped. Ian tilted his head to one side as if he was hearing something that no one else could. He then turned back to the creature, "I'll elaborate more at another time." He grinned as if thinking of some private joke, "Right I have a reunion to attend to"

*   *   *   *

It was pure instinct. Celeste didn't even have to think about it as her powers flowed from her, black tendrils shot from her arms and enveloped the woman. She was thrown against one of the mirrored walls, splintering glass everywhere, as shadows cocooned her. Celeste went to Jareth, as he struggled to stand, coughing up blood. Suddenly an invisible force knocked her back against the opposite wall. Luckily the glass did not break, Although all the wind was knocked out of her. She tried to stand but the force held her down. She heard maniacal laughter as a figure stepped into the room. He was tall and lithe, covered with black leather. He wore a brown cloak that seemed to be made entirely of feathers. His hair was brown as well, tied up in a long braid that trailed down his back. His narrow face bore a slight resemblance to Jareth's, and would have been very handsome if it wasn't for the leering grin on his face and the madness that blazed in his orange-amber eyes. He looked down at Jareth, who was still struggling to stand as a pool of blood was rapidly forming under him, and kicked him. Jareth fell, gasping and stopped moving. Celeste let out a snarl of rage and managed to stand up despite the fact that the invisible force was still trying to hold her down. The stranger looked at her for a moment with surprise, but he quickly covered with a sneer.

"Wh.. Who are you?" Celeste snarled between clenched teeth. The stranger smiled as he circled Jareth's prone form. 

"How rude of my cousin not to tell you about me," he smiled showing sharp white teeth. He bowed, mockingly, "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Ian the new ruler of the Underground.."


End file.
